The 8th International Urdu conference continued deliberations on the second day at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi on Wednesday.
There was a session on the contemporary history of the literary criticism in Urdu.
An intellectual from India, Dr Abul Kalam Qasmi, was of the view that the state of literary criticism in Urdu was not encouraging in India or in Pakistan.
He said that such criticism in India was more for the `taunt’ and `jeer’.
Dr Qasmi further stated that articles were written containing research and literary criticism in the universities but he said that they were for the most part below par.
Shamim Hanafi, a scholar, opined that it was not the task of literature to set principles but to bring to the fore the real issues.
Jamal Naqvi said that in literary criticism, creation was essential while in creation, criticism was a must.
Addressing the second session, Prof Anwar Ahmed Zai said that the poets had come up with great `Naats’.
Prof Sehr Ansai said that inclusion of `Naatia’ literature in the Urdu Conference augured well and expressed hope that the practice would be continued in future as well.