LAHORE, March 10: The three-day 10th Saarc Writers Conference will be held here from March 12 to 14, as delegates from the seven member states have started reaching the city.

The first to arrive in the city are Zobaida Gulshan Ara and Abdur Rahim from Bangladesh, while the Sri Lankan delegation is reaching here on Thursday morning.

The guests from India will report at the Wagah border at 3pm on Thursday (today) while from Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives are likely to reach here by air from New Delhi in the evening.

Former Indian prime minister VP Singh and his wife are also likely to attend the moot, which is being jointly organized by the Action Aid Pakistan, the Pakistan Academy of Letters, the Hawwa Associates, and the Foundation of Saarc Writers and Literature to promote understanding and harmony through literature among the member states.

According to conference coordinator Kishwar Naheed, the 9th Saarc writers' moot was held in the Maldives last year. There will be eight sessions of the conference, the first in Pakistan, to discuss subjects like mystiques and roots of the Saarc region, apathy of inflicted wars since 9/11, globalization, linguistics, etc.

Writers and poets from the member states will read their papers and present their poems on the topics. Prominent among them are Ajeet Kaur, chairperson of the foundation formed in 1991, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Abdullah Husain, Dr Namwar Singh, Dr Mubarak Ali, Intizar Husain, Aneesuz Zaman, Tashrering Dorji, Dr Bombar Bir Thapa, Dr Ashok Vajpai, Nirmalende Goon and Dawarka Sharesha.

The concluding session will be of importance and interest in that recommendations and declaration of the conference will be presented during it.