HYDERABAD: Panelists in one of the several sessions held on Saturday and Sunday — the third and last of the ‘11th Edition of Shaikh Ayaz Melo — discussed stature and works of the great philosopher, writer and poet of Sindh.
The festival, organisesd by the Khanabadosh Writers Café, held in the Sindh Museum, ended with a musical programme which was enjoyed by hundreds of people coming from across the province.
A session held on Saturday evening, panelists viewed that Shaikh Ayaz picked conflicts and other sensitive topics to focus them in his poetry because only men of as high caliber as Ayaz usually touch these issues.
Discussing Sheikh Ayaz’s works in ‘Sindho jo shaoor – Bhitai kahn Ayaz taeen’, Ayaz Latif Palijo, leader of Qaumi Awami Tehreek, observed that men of great stature usually talk about important issues and even pick controversial issues for discussion in their own way with the result that they had to pick a fight with conflicts of society. He said that great poets touch bigger issues. He added that love, romance and resistance were all something debated in poetry but there were controversial issues like religion, faith and evolution.
Three-day festival concludes
He stated that these poets focus on the universe, galaxy, energy, time and space when they produce their poetry to explain all sorts of conflicts. “So, Shaikh Ayaz also picked such subjects in his poetry,” Palijo said. If one reads Ayaz romantically then he/she would find pain, complaints and grievance and sorrows in his poetry. However, Ayaz also produced poetry of resistance.
He said that when a man faces anxiety, he achieves bigger tasks.
For instance, he said, had man not faced hunger, the agriculture sector would not have become a source of food production or a cave wouldn’t have become shelter for him during winter. He said that it was this anxiety that man started constructing buildings and homes.
He said Ayaz taught resistance, and added that Bhitai and Ayaz had become symbols of courage and resistance.
Writer Taj Joyo pointed out that Bhitai had emerged like a sun in the 18th century followed by Sachal, Rohal and other poets. “Ayaz was the sun of the 20th century and continuity of Bhitai,” he said.
He said that Shaikh Ayaz was in fact a continuation of poetic heritage of classical and literary genre and he also contributed to Shah jo Risalo. He noted that Bhitai gave a unique ideology that was different from the rest of the world because he made women his heroines in poetry. He waged war against feudals through these heroines.
At the launch of Adal Soomro’s book, Karoonjhar jean moon ditho, Naseer Mirza observed that Ayaz would be discussed for centuries but still there would be no dearth of material. He paid tributes to Adal Soomro for producing appropriate content on Ayaz because of his close association with him.
Adal Soomro noted that Ayaz’s poetry encompasses society’s pain and the idea was to produce his poetry in line with modern day needs. He said that Ayaz wrote on all genres of poetry. He said that Ayaz’s writings had been compiled in a book.
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2025