The Adabi-o-Saqafati Nashist 2011 will begin at 10am on May 14 (Saturday). Six guests from India, including Shamim Hanfi, Akhtarul Wasi, Khaleel Mamoon, Dr Siddiqueur Rehman Qadwani and J Anat Parmar will be attending the conference. Poetry will be discussed during the first sitting “Classical elements in Urdu poetry” and jointly presided by Shamim Hanfi and Professor Akhtarul Wasi. Other discussions will include “The philosophy of Iqbal and Globalisation”, “Meer’s poetry, a classical miracle” and “The consciousness of pain in Ghalib’s poetry”.
The second session will discuss the “Heights of prose writing in Pakistan”, and will be presided by Mian Aijazul Hasan. Essays of Dr Ejaz Anwar, Shahnawaz Zaidi and Rahat Naveed Masood will be read out and discussed. In the third sitting, “Classical music in Pakistan” will be discussed during which essays by Ustad Ghulam Haider, Sarwat Ali, Shafqat Ali Khan, Ustad Badaruz Zaman and Parvez Paras will be read.
A poetry sitting will also take place later in the night. Poets including Mehmood Sham, Athar Abbas, Kishwar Naheed, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Anwar Sun Roy, Khalil Mamoon, Tabassum Kashmiri, J Ant Parmaar, Ehsan Akbar, Azra Abbas, Ali Akbar Abbas, Saadat Saeed, Dr Waheed Ahmed, Zahid Masood, Sharjeel Anzar, Dr Shabnam Eshai, Dr Anwar Zahidi, Fahim Josy, Athar Ghauri, Muhammad Akram Suhail, Murtaza Shibli and Rabia Rehman will recite their poetry.