KARACHI: In these difficult times when the world is in turmoil and peace has become a precious commodity, cultural activities have become few and far between. This is the reason that the 31st international Sakinan-i-Shehr-i-Quaid Mushaira at Expo Centre held on Saturday night, and concluding in the early hours of Sunday, came as a feel-good change. The event was presided over by distinguished poet Iftikhar Arif.

Nearly four dozen poets presented their poetry, mostly ghazals, to an audience which had turned up in decent numbers. Initially, budding poets — boys and girls — who had been selected by some senior poets such as Dr Pirzada Qasim and Anwar Shaoor, were invited. Out of them Daniyal Ismail caught the attention of both poetry lovers in the hall and the senior poets on stage. After the first batch, another group of versifiers were invited including Ambareen Hasib Amber, Wasi Shah and Mazhar Hani. Shah, who is popular among the crowd, earned quite a bit of applause for his ghazals and a nazm which was to do with the current state of the world.

In the last segment of the mushaira that lasted for more than a couple of hours, eminent senior poets recited their kalaam. However, in between some young poets or poets of lesser renown too were brought in to read poems, which looked a little jarring.

This was also the time when Governor of Sindh Nehal Hashmi appeared and sat among the poets. He remained there for an hour or so and delivered a speech in which he praised the organisers of the event and mentioned some names associated with the world of literature and journalism in a friendly way.

Encouraged and selected by their seniors, budding poets read their poetry at annual mushaira

The last three poets of the mushaira were Dr Pirzada Qasim, Prof Sahar Ansari and Iftikhar Arif. Their effort was well-received but things took an exhilarating turn, something that’s rarely witnessed at mushairas, when Ifitkhar Arif came to read his poems. Young poets, organisers, volunteers and moderators sat on the floor of the stage around him. A few of them went down to sit with the crowd. From the very first verse that Arif recited, the whole atmosphere became electric, despite the fact that by that time it was almost 4am. It seemed that the entire hall knew Arif’s poems by heart. Some of them prompted him to read certain couplets. It was a heart-warming sight.

One of the verses that he read out during his stint on stage was:

Muhafiz-i-ravish-i-raftagan koi nahin hai
Jahan ka main hun mera ab wahan koi nahin hai

[No custodian of past traditions remains, and
None of my loved ones live in the place I come from]

Another unusual thing that happened on Saturday night/Sunday morning is that there were half a dozen naazims (moderators) of the mushaira, including the regular duo of Wajih Sani and Ambareen Hasib Amber.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2026