AL KHOBAR, Jan 25: Collections of poems of two prominent Pakistani poets were launched on two consecutive evenings here in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia.

Launch of collection of Urdu poems is a rare event in Saudi Arabia, and especially in the eastern province. Jeddah often gets more than its due share of such literary gatherings, because a number of Urdu luminaries from the subcontinent keep gracing Jeddah. Al-Khobar and Dammam are not as fortunate. Thus, the launchings last weekend came as a special treat for expatriates.

Urdu critics and poets from all over Saudi Arabia made it a point to be in Al-Khobar for the two evenings. Naseem-i-Sahar from Jeddah, Azra Naqvi, Jawed Akhtar Jawed and Sadaf Fareedi from Riyadh, others from Jubail and Al-Hassa were present.

The first book to be launched as a collection, Sham ki zad mein, was by Iqbal Qamar, who has been living in the kingdom for the last many years and is a regular participant in the mushairas here. Iqbal Qamar, who basically hails from Jhelum, laments in some of his poems the problems and sensitivities of migration and living away from the family and friends. The well-known ghazal singer Bakhtiar Ahmad, sang some of the poems.