HYDERABAD: The three-day ‘11th edition of Shaikh Ayaz Melo (festival)’ got underway at an impressive ceremony held at the Sindh Museum on Friday under the aegis of the Khanabadosh Writers Café. The event has been organised in collaboration with the provincial culture department.

Eminent literati, including playwright Dr Asghar Nadeem Syed and well known scholar, TV host, writer and politician Mehtab Akbar Rashidi, eulogised the poetry and other literary works of Shaikh Ayaz — an iconic figure and one of the few internationally acclaimed poets from Sindh.

Addressing the audience online from Lahore Dr Asghar Nadeem Syed said that it’s difficult to transform philosophies into poetry but Ayaz made them a point of reference by going deep into various ideologies.

“I think what Ayaz did hardly might have done in Asia; he made everyone witness to it,” he remarked.

“With the passage of time, other realities of his poetry will keep dawning upon people,” he said.

Dr Syed said that Ayaz knew that Sindh would protect itself, and that people of Sindh would not need any assistance or support of any external force for the defence of their motherland.

“Sheikh Ayaz’s poetry witnessed several challenges and his voice had become a cry in those difficult times,” he read from his paper. The metaphor in Ayaz’s poetry, he said, got connected with other languages easily. He said Ayaz was a poet who presented literature, folk songs, philosophy, political ideologies and international literature in his poetry.

“Ayaz was seen telling his contemporary poets that Sindh is not a piece of fabric that can be divided into pieces,” said Dr Syed, adding that Ayaz exposed conflicts in political thoughts and remained connected with world’s thinking.

Mehtab Akbar Rashdi recalled her association with Shaikh Ayaz in Sindh University.

She remarked: “Writings always remain alive. When Bhitai wrote his poetry, he didn’t know his Risalo will be published; and Ayaz did the same thing”.

MNA Rashdi called for the establishment of the ‘Ibrahim Joyo Institute of Translation’ for which a resolution was adopted by the Sindh Assembly. She stressed that the Sindhi literature needed to be translated into more languages, besides Urdu.

In his presidential speech, Sindh Culture Minister Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah said that Ayaz had extensively worked on great Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. “Bhitai is the only poet who made women his heroines in his folk stories,” he said.

While Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had witnessed disturbances and extremism; and Punjab also once remained grappled with extremist organisations, Sindh remained peaceful, he noted.

The minister remarked: “Although no weapon was found in Mohenjo Daro ruins, but Sindh reacts whenever there is an attack on its self-respect”.

He said with his ministry’s efforts, Unesco has recently declared ancient Sindh’s musical instrument ‘Boreendo’ a cultural heritage. And now Banbhore is very likely to be enlisted which may be followed by the Sindhi Ajrak, he confidently said.

Zulfiqar Shah pointed out that Bhitai’s poetry had been translated by the culture department into 280 languages with the help of AI (artificial intelligence). He held out the assurance that a permanent grant would be allocated for Ayaz Melo from his department’s budget.

Hyderabad Mayor Kashif Ali Shoro told the audience that Ayaz’s poetry has an element of revolution, peace and brotherhood. Ayaz was perhaps the first scholar who understood Bhitai. He expressed his happiness over the successful holding of the festival regularly every year.

Hyderabad Com­missioner Fayyaz Abbasi said that this literary event in fact throws an opportunity for people to learn from men and women of high calibre who would be attending around 26 sessions at the festival.

He said the literati would, in fact, bring their messages for people. He said that today people need to do away with their egoistic tendencies within, and this is what poets had always talked about.

Amar Sindhu, the co-host with Dr Arfana Mallah, said that Ayaz’s poetry gives energy to organisers of the festival. “We don’t get tired, and people coming to the events don’t feel monotony ... this is the charisma of Ayaz’s poetry,” she said.

The proceedings of the ceremony were conducted by Dr Arfana Mallah. The inaugural session began with wai — the specific style of mystical poetry composed by Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai — sung by artist Ghulam Sakina and her group.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2025