LAHORE – The Government College University (GCU) Lahore Urdu Department is celebrating 2011 as the year of Faiz Ahmed Faiz like other renowned universities in Lahore and has announced a series of lectures, seminars, mushairas, competitions and publishing of papers and books to highlight the life and work of the renowned poet.
GCU Vice Chancellor (VC) Khalid Aftab while addressing “Faiz Ahmed Faiz Seminar” in connection with his 100th birth anniversary said that the university is proud to be the Alma Mater of great poets like Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz and will keep their traditions alive. “These traditions have been handed over to us by a generation of good teachers and students and we will keep transferring them to the future generations. These traditions are like beacons of light that will guide us to prosperity and peace,” said Aftab.
The VC also highlighted various aspects of Faiz’s personality. “Faiz was a very humble person. His love for humanity was free of any prejudice of race, colour or nationality”, he said. He said that Faiz’s Punjabi poetry is as good as that of his Urdu poetry, yet it is a surprise why he did not produce much work in Punjabi.
Chief guest Hammed Akhtar said Faiz had a very positive approach towards life. “Apart from being a revolutionary poet, he was a poet of beauty and love; the concepts of love, beauty and revolution had become identical to him”, he added. He also shared several incidents from Faiz’s life with the audience. Dr Saleem Akhter, Prof Saadat Saeed, Prof Tariq Zaidi and Dr Tabussum Kashmiri also addressed the seminar.
