- National Adabi Conference held at Allama Iqbal Open University
ISLAMABAD: Writers, editors, and publishers at the second day of the National Adabi (Literary) Conference, held at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) on Saturday, underlined the need of promoting book-reading culture for reconstruction of the society on positive directions.
Altogether there were 11 working sessions of the conference during the day, that were participated by eminent writers, columnists and book publishers from different parts of the country. They deliberated upon the role of literature in the reconstruction of the society.
The first working session was devoted to the issues relating to publication of literature, difficulties in its way and future challenges. The session was presided over by National Books Foundation Managing Director Dr Inamul Haq Javed, who gave an optimistic picture of reading habit, saying that the foundation published books worth Rs 3350 million in one year.
He said that this attitude was reflective of a growing trend of book-reading habit in the country that need to be supported at all levels. AIOU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Siddiqui spoke about the academic efforts of the Open University in promoting book-reading habit among the youth.
Dr Inam and other speakers including Farrukh Sohail Goindi, Afzal Ahmed and Gagan Shahid (publishers) called for strengthening the publishers-writers relationship to get better results in the books’ publication sector. They also underlined the need of promoting professional caliber of books’ manuscripts reading, editing and correction.
They praised the efforts of the AIOU vice chancellor and his team promoting book-reading culture among the students, through academic pursuits and literary activities. The follow-up events during the day were a seminar on books’ translation and editing that was presided over by Sheraz Dasti.
The speakers at the seminar included Yaseem Hameed, Dr Ghulam Ali and Asim Bukhshi. There were also panel discussions relating to thoughts and poetic work of saint poet Mian Muhammad Baksh, Sheikh Ayaz and Zaitoon Bano, a strong Pakhtun voice. The conference was second literature festival (carnival) arranged by AIOU to develop the university as a hub of academic, social and literary activities.
It was formally inaugurated by the renowned writers Dr Attaul Haq Qasmi and Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik. They called for adhering to the thoughts of Muslim philosopher Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal and other spiritual poets to achieve the desired results for reformation of the society on positive lines.
There was also a separate session of the conference that deliberated upon the topic of literature, journalism and politics. It was addressed by prominent columnists Hamid Mir, Rauf Klasra, Wajahat Masood and Wajahat Mansori. Later, Social Sciences Dean Dr Samina Awan thanked the participants for their active participation in the event that she hoped will contribute to the development of a knowledge-based healthy society.
