Faiz Day: Over 1,500 attend Geo event in UK
Murtaza Ali Shah
LONDON: The centenary celebrations of poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz began in London on Saturday with media support from the Jang group and Geo TV.
More than 1,500 people including politicians, students, artists and close associates of Faiz attended the celebrations, held at the Friends Meeting House, London, UK.
Faiz’s daughters Muneeza and Saleema Hashmi, Zia Mohiuddin, IA Rehman, Iftikhar Arif, Ahmed Saleem, Laal Band, and many prominent literary figures especially flew in to the city from Pakistan to pay tributes to one of the most influential revolutionary Urdu poets of our time.
On the occasion, Iftikhar Qaisar welcomed the guests. He praised the organising committee for holding a wonderful tribute in the heart of London. He recalled that Faiz loved spending time in London but always thinking and talking about Pakistan. The organisers, Ayub Aulia, Shahid Destagir Khan and Tanveer Zaman conducted the proceedings.
The celebrations started with a musical rendition of Faiz’s poetry by a group of London-based students. Speaking on the occasion, Faiz’s daughters said they were always humbled by the fact that their father continued to inspire millions of people through his words.
Mazhar Ali Khan said Faiz represented everything modern and indigenous and stood as a symbol of resistance against the imperialist forces. Abid Hussain Minto said Faiz’s vision for a just society was more relevant today.
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan said that Faiz loved people, particularly the repressed segments of the society. He said the revolutionary poet struggled for social and political causes, independence of the repressed people and people’s revolution. “He chose very soft and simple words and the beauty of his poetry is that his poetry doesn’t lose depths of idea and the force of message,” he added.
Source: The News
Date:6/12/2011
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