Senior Adviser to Chief Minister Sardar Zulfaqar Ali Khosa inaugurated the 2nd International Literary and Cultural Conference (ILCC) 2011 at Al-Hamra on Saturday. Addressing the conference, Khosa said writers and poets played an important role in creating determination, unity and awakening nations and added that Allama Iqbal’s poetry was a living example of it. He said the era of deprivations was not over and urged the writers and poets to play the same role in guiding the society which they had played in the past. He said a writer was the custodian of literary and social values of the society and the spokesman of its problems. He also proposed that a “book street”, similar to the food street, should be set up for the promotion of education and literature.
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif urged the artists on Saturday to help eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country addressing the “History of Classical Music in Pakistan” session. He further said that it was not possible to enjoy independence while being dependent on foreign funds and loans. He said Pakistan should stop begging for dollars and start relying on its own resources. Upon getting a note from one of his staffers suggesting the CM censor his speech because of Indian artists’ presence, he said Indians were Pakistan’s neighbours and it was useless to hide the country’s problems from them.
Khosa also gave lifetime achievement awards and Rs 200,000 each honorarium to various personalities from drama, music, painting, arts and literature. The CM also announced additional Rs 300,000 from the Punjab government’s funds for each recipient of the Al-Hamra life time achievement award. In the drama category, Qavi khan was awarded for working in over 2,000 dramas and more than 200 movies. In the music category, Ustad Ghulam Hussain was awarded. In painting, Al-Hamra Arts Council Founder Khalid Iqbal was awarded whereas novelist Abdullah Hussain was awarded for his services to arts and literature.
Later, Ustad Badrul Zaman, Ustab Shafqat Ali Khan, Parvez Paris and Ustad Ghulam Haider presented their articles on the history of classical music in Pakistan and discussed the impact of Iranian, Arabic and English music on the music of Sub-continent. Kishwar Naheed, Sofia Bedar, Dr Sajjad Khalid and Zahida Hina also attended the session.