The International Urdu Conference was held in Long Island, New York in connection with Faiz’s centennial birth celebrations. A large number of international delegates attended the three day conference. Faiz’s daughter, Muneeza Hashmi was the chief guest of the event while famous Urdu critics Padam Bhoshan and Prof. Gopi Chand Narang presided over.
The participants highlighted how the poetry of Faiz gives a message of life and freedom and gives us hope against the oppression in the society. Addressing the inaugural session, Dr. Syed Taqi Abedi welcomed guests who had come from all over the world to pay tribute to the legend.
He said that it was 5th Urdu Conference and was named as Jashn-e-Faiz to dedicate the session to the master of poetry. He emphasized the need of such conferences for development and promotion of Urdu language.
A documentary film “Faiz Ghar” was also screened while Dr. Abedi launched his book “Faiz Fehmi” (Understanding Faiz) on the occasion. In the end, Zafar Iqbal launched his CD on Faiz’s poetry. The event was organized by USA’s first Urdu language newspaper Urdu Times. The object of the conference was to promote Urdu in the West, the organizers told.
