Tributes paid to Shaikh Ayaz
HYDERABAD, March 2: A festival was held here on Wednesday to mark the 88th birth anniversary of great Sindhi poet Shaikh Ayaz.
A series of cultural and literary events were jointly organised by the Sindh culture department and a Sindhi TV channel on the occasion.
Earlier in the day, wreaths were laid at the grave of Shaikh Ayaz in Bhitshah at a ceremony attended by poets, writers, intellectuals and political activists.
People who laid wreaths at the grave included chairperson of Sindhi Language Authority Dr Fehmida Hussain, Director of Shaikh Ayaz chair at Shah Abdul Latif University of Khairpur Dr Adal Soomro, renowned writer Dr Bashir Ahmed Shad, Taj Joyo, DG culture Dr Mohammed Ali Manjhi and Naz Sehto.
An exhibition of photographs of Shaikh Ayaz and paintings of different artists about Shaikh Ayaz and poetry was held at Sindh Museum. In the afternoon, a literary conference was held at the auditorium of Sindhi Language Authority where scholars paid rich tributes to the late poet.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Fehmida Hussain said that Shaikh Ayaz gave a new concept of patriotism and romanticised it. She deplored: “We do not completely owned the great poet.”Referring to criticism on Shaikh Ayaz for deviating from his literary ideology, she said that time brought changes in age, experiences, ideas and the point of views. Such changes could be witnessed in a number of great poets of the world. She said that Shaikh Ayaz was a poet and a man of letter and not a political person. She said there was Sufism in his poetry which was further brightened and became clear in his late-age poetry.
Dr Adal Soomro said that the poetry of Shaikh enjoyed the status of classical poetry which became popular and was revealing a variety of meanings with the passage of time.
Taj Joyo said that Shaikh Ayaz gave modern interpretation of Sufism and advocated that words were more powerful than brute force.
Two volumes of Collected Works of Shaikh Ayaz, published by Sindh culture department, were also launched on the occasion.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/3/2011
” 
” 
” 
” 
