A tale of literary events

Hardly a month passed since the World Cultural Festival enthralled the denizens of Karachi when the Arts Council offered another fairly successful ‘Aalmi Urdu Conference’ coupled with ‘Jashn-e-Karachi’ from December 5 to 7, 2024.

President of Arts Council Karachi Ahmed Shah assembled an excellent team that includes names such as Prof Ejaz Farooqi, Noorul Huda Shah, Dr Huma Mir, Ambreen Haseeb, Akhlaq Ahmed, Ghazi Salahuddin, Dr Ayub Shaikh, Dr Jafar Ahmed, Prof Amjad Siraj Memon and many others.

The 17th Aalmi Urdu Conference invited over 150 speakers from Pakistan and abroad who discussed and dissected various aspects of Pakistani culture, literature, and society in dozens of sessions during the four-day events and festivities. At the inaugural session at the YMCA lawn, Ghazi Salahuddin delivered the keynote address while Ahmed Shah and Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah stole the show with their impromptu speeches.

The Arts Council Karachi also celebrated its 70th birth anniversary at the inaugural session with a big cake. Ahmed Shah in his welcome address outlined the achievements of the Arts Council and highlighted the role it has been playing in promoting art, culture and literature not only in Karachi but also across the province and the country. There is hardly any doubt that Ahmed Shah and his team have made the Arts Council Karachi the most dynamic of the Arts Councils in Pakistan. Of course, a lot of the credit also goes to the PPP government in Sindh that has facilitated the ACP-K in nearly all its major conferences, events, and festivals.

Murad Ali Shah is perhaps the most articulate of chief ministers Pakistan has. Since he is one of the most qualified chief ministers, he appears to enjoy the company of scholars and writers and in his speech, stressed the need for cultural and linguistic harmony for a peaceful and tolerant society. He was proud of the fact that in the past ten years, he had not missed a single Aalami Urdu Conference held at the ACP-K.

Unlike the chief minister of Punjab who consistently bashes Imran Khan and glorifies Mian Sb in nearly all her speeches, Murad was more interested in highlighting his actions and plans rather than focusing on others’ failures. Compared to Ali Amin Gandapur whose sole objective appears to be initiating onslaughts in Islamabad, Murad Ali Shah outlined the cultural preferences of his government and how he is trying to promote a more inclusive society for all citizens irrespective of their provenance. He expressed his pleasure and pride at the growing dynamism of Karachi as a cultural and literary hub of Pakistan.

And now something about new books and some sessions that attracted my attention at the conference. ‘Nikalta Hua Din’ (Daybreak) is a new poetry collection by Farrukh Yar that Book Corner Jhelum has published maintaining their high quality of book production. Farrukh Yar has emerged as a noticeable poet and researcher in recent years with his pungent lines and impressive verses. ‘Mitti Ka Mazmoon’ was perhaps his first poetry collection that appeared in 2011. Since then he has honed his poetic imagery and used metaphors that are new and inspiring. ‘Nikalta Hua Din’ is a good addition to his oeuvre. Sharif Awan presented his insightful analysis of the book.

The session on Saraiki culture and literature discussed contemporary trends in Saraiki writings both in poetry and prose. Novelist Hafeez Khan who has penned several novels in Saraiki was hopeful that the language that does not have much governmental support is thriving by the efforts of Saraiki poets and writers. Journalist Shahid Jatoi who now works for the Sindh Information Commission claimed that Saraiki is the single largest linguistic group in Karachi; going so far as to assert that Karachi is essentially a Saraiki city. Social activist Abida Batool discussed the challenges that Saraiki as a language has been facing in Pakistan.

Pakhtun culture and literature also came under discussion in a separate session that Sarwar Shamal moderated. Makham Khattak who has a couple of poetry collections to his credit discussed Karachi as presented in Pashto poetry. Makham Khattak’s new poetry collection ‘Kakare Gharey’ contains English and Urdu translations of a particular genre of Pashto poetry that owes its creation and transfer from generation to generation to women poets. Just like ‘tappas’, the genre of ‘Gharey’ also deals with various dimensions of Pakhtun culture and the social and economic challenges that have beset the people in that region.

Iftikhar Arif presided over the session ‘Asloob-e-Ghazal’ (The style of Ghazal) that featured discussion with Ashfaq Hussain, Ziaul Hasan Javed Saba, Ahmed Mubarak, and others. Ashfaq Hussain’s book ‘Lo Hum Ne Daman Jhaar Diya’ was also launched at the conference. Ashfaq Hussain is a progressive activist and writer who was active in student politics in Karachi in the 1970s before moving to Canada. He has numerous books to his credit and his new collection contains his ‘kulliyaat’ (all poetry in one volume). His poetry is of outstanding merit and is an invaluable addition to the contemporary landscape of Urdu literature.

‘Yaad-e-Raftagaan’ (In memory of the departed) was a timely session as it featured a discussion on personalities such as Talat Hussain, Athar Waqar Azeem, Ajmal Siraj, and Rahat Saeed, among others. Akhtar Waqar Azeem recalled his years with his brother Athar. Akhtar himself is a well-known media professional and former MD of PTV who has penned his memoirs about his PTV days titled ‘Hum Bhi Waheen Maujood Thay’ (We also happened to be there). The book is a treasure trove of information about the good old days of the PTV that thrived under the supervision of Aslam Azhar.

Veteran journalist Hussain Naqi reminisced about Rahat Saeed who passed away in October. Rahat Saeed was a progressive activist and intellectual who played an instrumental role in the launch of the Irtiqa literary journal from Karachi and also initiated the project of the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences. In the early 2000s, he visited nearly all major cities of Pakistan to revive the Progressive Writers Association (PWA) which had become inactive. Through his efforts, the PWA experienced a revival of sorts and now its chapters are active in many cities including Islamabad.

Rafaqat Hayat’s novel ‘Rolaak’ (Sindhi word for vagabond) was also launched at the conference. With numerous books to his credit, Rafaqat Hayat has emerged as a respectable name in 21st-century Urdu fiction. ‘Rolaak’ is the story of a boy in one of the towns in Sindh where job opportunities are nearly non-existent, and a young man is reluctant to sit at his father’s picture-framing shop. The father is a promiscuous man who treats his son and wife cruelly. The novel is worth reading and is a good addition to modern Urdu fiction.

Anwar Sen Roy’s ‘Kuchh Mohabbat Kuchh Bebasi’ (Some love, some helplessness) is a magnum opus of over 600 pages that contains in one volume his five poetry collections that he wrote from 1973 to 2023. He is a senior journalist who has penned novels ‘Cheekh’ (Scream, 1987) and ‘Zillaton ke Aseer’ (Prisoners of Humiliation, 1997) that have drawn appreciation from literary critics. He has also translated some masterpieces of world literature into Urdu.

Finally, the last book that I would like to mention is the Urdu translation of the Korean writer Han Kang’s novel ‘The Vegetarian’ by Asma Hussain from English to Urdu as ‘Shakahari’, which Hoori Noorani of Maktaba-e-Daniyal Karachi has published recently. ‘The Vegetarian’ won the Man Booker International prize in 2016 and since then has been translated into many languages. Asma Hussain has done full justice to its Urdu translation while Hoori Noorani is known for her meticulous editing and printing. ‘The Vegetarian’ is the story of a woman who after dreaming about the mass slaughter of animals stops eating meat and slides into mental degeneration.

The 17th Aalami Urdu conference was a success despite some people showing reservations about combining it with ‘Jashn-e-Karachi’, which ideally should have been a separate event. The use of two different venues also created some problems but it was another feather in the cap of Ahmed Shah and his team.

The writer holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK. He tweets/posts @NaazirMahmood and can be reached at:[email protected]