Mirza Ghalib — culmination of classical tradition | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Mirza Ghalib — culmination of classical tradition

LAHORE: A two-day international conference on Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib organised by Ghalib Memorial Trust opened at a local hotel on Tuesday.

The conference has been organised in connection with the 214th birth anniversary of legendary Urdu poet of the subcontinent.

The opening session of the conference was presided over by Shafiq Ahmed Siddique, the patron-in-chief of Ghalib Memorial Trust, and the guest of honour was veteran short story writer Intizar Husain.

Iranian Consul-General Aqaai Bani Asadi and Iranian Cultural Centre Director-General Abbas Famoori were also among the distinguished guests who attended the inaugural session.

Ghalib Memorial Trust Chairman Tasleem Ahmed Tassawar in his welcome address threw light on objectives of the trust and said it had been founded by some of Ghalib`s fans who wanted to promote the legendary poet and his message all over the world.

Mr Tassawar said the trust would soon announce a portrait competition on Ghalib followed by a festival on the great poet. The festival would include music, ghazal nights and a poetry sitting.

Dr Anwaar Ahmed, chairman of National Language Authority, in his key-note address spoke of various aspects of Ghalib`s life and his works. Mr Ahmed said Ghalib faced a lot of controversies and criticism in his life, however, he had many well wishers as well. At many places Ghalib`s opponents explained his verses in such a way that their meaning got totally changed.

Consul-General Aqaai Bin Asadi said Ghalib, Iqbal, and Hafiz gave the message of love and peace. He said Ghalib was the common heritage of Pakistani and Iranian people.

Iranian Cultural Center Director-General Abbas Famoori said Ghalib started poetry in Persian at a time when Persian was on the decline in subcontinent and he supported the language at that time. He suggested that Ghalib Memorial Trust should hold such conferences in Iran as well.

Intizar Husain said: “Our classical tradition of literary values culminated in the shape of Ghalib. The classical tradition was expressed by Ghalib through ghazal.”

He said ghazal rather should be considered a resistance movement against narrow-mindedness and religious prejudices. He said Ghalib`s creative and innovative aspect in prose could be seen in his letters.

On this occasion, a cake was also cut to celebrate the birth anniversary of Ghalib.

The trust also gave awards to the people who had great contribution to Urdu outside Pakistan and those who had been promoting Ghalib on different forums.

A Canada-based literary figure, Tasleem Elahi Zulfi, was given `Tamgha Farogah-i-Urdu.`

Trust Patron-in-Chief Shafique Ahmed was given `Tamgha Farogah-i-Ghalibiyyat.`

In the academic session various literary figures read their papers on Ghalib.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/26/2011