KARACHI: Noted poet Khalid Alig was the guest of honour at a literary sitting held in his honour by three organizations — Daira-i-Adab-o-Saqafat, Dhaka Group of Institutions and the Sadequain Institute of Art.

Dr Aslam Farrukhi in his presidential address praised the poet for his efforts to bring about a better social order and his concern for humanity at large. He defined his poetry as based on two parts: firstly its intellectual contents and secondly his protest against inequalities, tyranny, violence and intolerance in society as well as the global phenomenon wherein nations are losing their independent character.

Dr Farrukhi hoped and prayed for better social conditions in future in which the intellectual and finer part of Khalid’s poetry would be enjoyed by his admirers.

Among those who spoke on the occasion included Afaq Siddiqui, Farhad Zaidi and Sarshar Siddiqui, while Naqqash Kazmi, Javed Manzar and Iqbal Majeedi paid compliments to the guest through their verses.

Afaq Siddiqui, who had developed a close association with Khalid Alig since their migration to Pakistan after partition, admired the latter for his personal qualities, love for people and honesty in official dealings as an engineer in the government service.

“He always remained a ‘darvesh’ and never sought any favour from any quarter,” Mr Siddiqui observed.

Farhad Zaidi recalled his contact with Khalid Alig when the former was Editor of daily Hurriyat, (now defunct) and Khalid also worked with him. Their acquaintance remained strictly on professional lines and the editor never knew that his colleague was also a poet.

Mr Zaidi found in Khalid’s poetry a ‘revolutionary’ with a burning desire to change society to make it a better place to live in. Khalid laments his lonesome self to be like “a deer in a jungle of hounds”, as his collection of verses is named, but such were the lamentations of the great poet Ghalib as well, Zaidi recalled and added that better times would surely come and Khalid’s poetry would be duly recognized in a changed social perspective.

Sarshar Siddiqui said that Khalid Alig is a “progressive poet” in the true sense of the word and not a person vying for self-progress. He praised the poet for his firm commitment, integrity and impeccable honesty and for his poetry imbued with revolutionary zeal.

Azfar Rizvi informed the audience about the future plans of his literary organization.

Javed Manzar did the compering.—Hasan Abidi