LAHORE – Saleema Hashmi, Imtiaz Alam and Hameed Akhtar cut a birthday cake in commemoration of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s hundredth birthday while speeches were delivered by Imtiaz Alam, IA Rehman and Hameed Akhtar at SAFMA on Monday.
In their speeches, the speakers said that the atmosphere in the country today is highly immoral. An aura of terrorism because of ideological issues develops only when people are insecure and their view points are different.
“This is opposite to what Faiz tried to teach”, they maintained. Faiz they said was a symbol for freedom who promoted freedom of expression. “For SAFMA, Faiz is important because SAFMA is a journalists’ organization and has been working for freedom of the press”, they added.
The speakers said that Faiz being the first Editor of Pakistan Times has always struggled for freedom of press; he stood against imperialism and colonialism and advocated independence of Pakistan’s foreign policy which has always remained under a dominant American influence.
Rehman narrated his memories of Faiz and told the audience that “Faiz was such a dedicated person that he called his life ‘work for toiling masses.'”
