HARIPUR: Speakers at a literary reference here on Sunday paid tributes to Riaz Saghar for pioneering nazm (string, a genre of metrical expression) in the province during the 60s when most famous poets would opt to write ghazal (rhyme).

They said his command over the subject, his unique diction and ideological clarity were matchless elements of his poetic work that he passed on to five generations.

The Haripur chapter of Anjuman Taraqipasand Musanifeen organised the reference in honour of late poet and educationist Riaz Saghar.

Riaz Saghar, 80, died of cardiac arrest on June 16. He had two poetry books, ‘Panchwan Mosam’ (fifth weather) and ‘Satween Simt’ (seventh direction), and a number of Urdu ghazals, nazms and Hindko verses, to his credit.

He also founded Bazm-i-Loh-o-Qalam and later the Anjuman Taraqipasand Musanifeen in Haripur. He also served the education department for over three decades.

The speakers said Riaz Saghar, known as Saghar Sahib, had introduced nazm for the first time in the province during early 60s when he was a young poet and only a few poets in the country were rarely producing nazm.

They said that the romanticism and progressiveness were the two streams flowing side by side in Saghar’s poetry while the love for nature and flowers had literally magnified his poetic work as standalone.

They said Saghar never tried to make a claim that he was progressive but his poetic work was an undeniable proof of his approaches in this regard.

The speakers said Saghar’s poetry was also overwhelmed with the sentiments of resistance and rebellion against centuries-old traditions and customs, tyrannies, hypocrisy and social injustices.

They termed Saghar’s poetic diction and approach unique and so impressive that brought his work to the level of prominence countrywide where his contemporaries of big urban centres stood.

The speakers also shed light on the personality, professional approach as educationist and skills that he passed on to five generations as mentor. They also presented the selected verses from the ghazals and nazms of Saghar Sahib on the occasion.

Dr Ziaur Rasheed, Prof Waheed Qureshi, Tahir Gul, Rizwan Razi and Naeem Muradabadi were prominent among those who spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2023