Marking Faiz’s centenary celebrations, the Faiz International Conference would begin Friday (today) under the auspices of the Faiz centennial celebrations committee at Bagh Ibne Qasim in Clifton. The preliminary session of the conference would be held at the Sindh Chief Minister’s House, whereas other programmes would be held at the Kothari Parade in Bagh Ibne Qasim from 4:00 pm onwards and attended by renowned intellectuals, artistes, poets, writers and singers. Singers would entertain the audience with the classical poetry of Faiz in a music gala at the same venue at 9:00 pm. Eminent singers Fariha Pervez and Seema Sehgal would be among the key performers. Three different seminars would follow on Saturday. An Urdu seminar would be held at the Usman Institute, an English seminar would be held at the city campus of the Institute of Business Administration, whereas a Sindhi seminar is also scheduled. Faiz Amn Mela (peace festival) would be held at Bagh Ibne Qasim at 4:00 pm on Saturday, followed by a musical concert of pop and folk music in the evening. Shehzad Roy, Laal band, Arieb Azhar, Shazia Khushk, Fahim Allan Fakir, Mai Dhai, Bina Sanam and other artistes are expected to perform at the concert. The KMC administrator would host a dinner at the Frere Hall on Saturday at 10:00 pm to honour the attending delegates. The concluding session of the Faiz International Conference would start at 6:00 pm on Sunday, where prominent intellectuals, poets, critics and artistes would pay tribute to Faiz. According to Faiz centennial celebrations committee secretary Rahat Saeed, delegates from different countries, including Masroor Jawaid from the US, Ashfaq Hussain, Nasim Syed from Canada, Yusra, Sana, Ghazala Ansari, Basir Kazmi and Raza Ali Abidi from Britain, Dr Tush Mirza from Azerbaijan, Anil Sehgal, Nadira Raj Babar, Seema Sehgal, Nida Fazili from India and Mukhtar Ali from Saudi Arabia, have arrived in the city to attend the centennial programme.
