Writers urged to focus on foreign literary figures

LAHORE: World Punjabi Congress Chairman Fakhar Zaman has said our expatriate writers should write on foreign poets, writers and about literary movements abroad.
Delivering a presidential address at a function with Dutch-Pakistani writer Asad Mufti, arranged by the Punjab Institute of Language and Culture (PILAC), Fakhar Zaman said that one should not forget the roots but one has to use the images and sensibility which is the hallmark of a particular foreign country.
PILAC Director General Sughra Sadaf praised Mufti’s poetry and columns. Our expatriate writers should learn the respective languages of foreign countries so that they can study the literature being produced there. He said that in his opinion our writers should write on foreign poets and writers and about literary movements abroad.
He said he keeps on visiting foreign lands and felt that negligible number of Pakistani writers has the knowledge of what is being written in the country of which they have the citizenship, especially when they are living in a country where language is not English. It is good to write about Faiz, Munir and Manto but the towering literary personalities of foreign countries also deserve that our expats write on their poetry, novel, short story and essays.Fakhar Zaman said these are the times when outdated “Gul-o-Bulbul” and “boy meets girl” sensibilities should not be the main focus of our writers. Technology, communication revolution and cyber advancement has brought in new subjects, new images, new metaphors and new similes.
He said the new geo-political realities in the world have opened up new horizons for a writer to make the subject of his writing. For example, what is happening to the migrants from Middle East, the pathetic condition of migrants, the deplorable treatment with Rohingya’s and brinkmanship between America and North Korea are new ground realities which cannot escape the attention of literati. He said that racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia are the new ugly realities and writers have to put a joint front against these evils.