Karachi- Urdu Conference

THE fourth annual International Urdu Conference came to an end at the Karachi Arts Council on Friday. The four-day moot gathered together scholars, teachers, critics, students and Urdu enthusiasts from Pakistan, India and the global diaspora.

Participants were treated to scholarly papers on Urdu classics and contemporary trends in literature, debates, questionand-answer sessions, a mushaira, music concerts and discussions on the evolving role of the language as a medium of instruction and in the media. It was a fulfilling endeavour and a rare opportunity for scholars and students of the language to interact with Urdu`s global literati, and share their experiences of the varying environments in which Urdu has found a home beyond the subcontinent. That the sessions were open to all, permitting capacity of the venues, was also a welcome step forward in a city where such moots are often held for restricted audiences thus limiting their reach.

Besides including papers and speeches by notable Pakistani scholars, writers, poets and critics of the language, including senior names in literature and criticism such asJamiluddin Aali, Intizar Hussain, Jamil Jalibi, Peerzada Qasim, Zehra Nigah, Farman Fatehpuri, Aslam Farrukhi, Sahar Ansari, Iftikhar Arif, Hasina Moeen, Fehmida Riaz and others, the conference also attracted international poets, scholars and enthusiasts.

Among the latter were Raza Ali Abidi, Qazi Afzaal Hussain, Obaid Siddiqui, Saeed Naqvi, Yashab Tamanna and Ghazal Ansari. Notable papers read at the moot included a critique of contemporary Urdu fiction by Masood Ash`ar, who argued that fiction being written today did not reflect the change that had taken place in society, especially after 9/11; in his paper, Nomaul Haq stressed the need to separate Iqbal the thinker from Iqbal the poet, arguing that the thinker had unfairly overshadowed the poet. The debate in one of the sessions on the usage of the language in contemporary media, especially in reference to electronic media, was also very robust. It is heartening to note that the critical papers read at the conference will be compiled in a book form by the Arts Council so as to make them available to researchers of the language and literature everywhere.