LAHORE: The Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (Pilac) held an event in the honour of celebrated Punjabi writer Nain Sukh (Khalid Mehmood) on Tuesday to celebrate the award of the Dahan Prize to his book Jogi Sapp Tarah.

The event was presided over by singer and classical dancer Beena Jawad. Speaking on the occasion, Pilac Director General Dr Sughra Sadaf congratulated Nain Sukh on winning the award, saying all Punjabis should be proud of him. She said the book left a great impact and was full of great aesthetics.

Nain Sukh thanked Pilac and its DG for organising the event. He said the award was not just about the cash money it entailed as it was a great encouragement for him to write more. He said he had always focused on the downtrodden and the oppressed in his stories as small characters had big stories to tell. He added that writing was about spreading love.

Beena Jawad said Punjabi language should be promoted and there was need to spread peace and tolerance. She recited verses of Shah Husain.

Writer Yousaf Punjabi said Nain Sukh had a pure style of writing.

“When we read him, it’s not only fiction but diction too. His stories are punctuated with history and politics and they read more like long poems.”

Yousaf termed Nain Sukh a jewel among the Punjabi writers.

Publisher Amir Riaz said Nain Sukh’s book had won the award from among 43 entries. He suggested that the book should be translated into English.

Retired Professor Zubair Ahmad said Nain Sukh had written novel, Madhu Lal Hussain, in four years but he spent 20 years on research for it. He added that Nain Sukh had a very good memory and in some of his books, he had explained history of different cities.

Shagufta Gimmi Lodhi, Iqbal Qaiser, Dr Saeed Bhutta, Prof Ghulam Hussain Sajid, Professor Pervaiz Vandal and lawyer Abid Saqi also spoke. Iftikhar Mitra read an article on Nain Sukh.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2021