‘Urdu conference will keep the voice of dissent alive’

Stressing on the need to fight fanaticism by literature, Arts Council of Pakistan President Ahmad Shah said that the tenth edition of International Urdu Conference was proof that a counter-narrative would be harboured through culture.

Shah who was speaking at the launch of the five-day event on Thursday, said that this year’s conference was dedicated to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s vision and that all participants would be invited to form a draft pledge to make a better tomorrow.

“We would make sure that the rights of minorities, women and children are safeguarded,” said Shah. “All progressive individuals from across country as well as the border have arrived here to tell all that Urdu conference will keep the voice of dissent alive.”

Speaking about the importance of literature, writer Mobin Mirza said that it isn’t merely a way to kill time for him, but a way of life. “Literature gives me hope to live when death lurks everywhere. Be it transferring my thoughts to others and empathising with others, both prose and poetry have always helped me,” he said.

He added that literature gives a voice to the voiceless and it is much needed in these times because the “world has become an echo chamber where the noise is meaningless.” Referring to work by postcolonial critic, Edward Said, Mirza said that the differences especially racial ones are now devouring the world as nations are trying to outrun each other to acquire arms.

“It’s woeful when a country like ours also tries to strengthen the armament front forgetting that basic necessities like food, shelter, health and education are still inaccessible to most of the population,” Mirza said.

He added that T.S Eliot’s ‘The Hollow Men’ remains alive and the shift which came in the post-Renaissance era can be clearly seen today as man has become his own centre of existence.

When Ghalib wrote his famous couplet ‘Eeman mujhe khenchay hai’, the poet still had the leverage in his time to write about a choice between the Kaaba and a church, but now the extreme conditions aren’t allowing people to choose, Mirza said.

Indian literary stalwart Shamim Hanafi felt that literature now needs to evoke humanitarian values because the world is moving to darker days. “When hate and blood replace love and peace, then an artist slowly dies inside,” he said. “In this island of voices, the artist stands shocked at first, but then the artist needs to shout as loudly as possible to be heard.”

He concluded by saying that heartless people are ruling this century but that must not deter the artists who need to hold their ground. Writer Kishwar Naheed shared her disappointment with writers and poets in light of the recent developments in the capital [the Faizabad protest].

“We talk about Jinnah when Hafiz Saeed is becoming the new face of the future. It was disheartening that none of the writers or poets came out to protest by using their pens against the Faizabad siege. The upcoming years would be frightening if the artists do not rise against these groups,” she warned.

Sindh Culture Minister Syed Sardar Shah in his speech assured Kishwar that such movements would be countered by promoting culture. Quoting poet Sachal Sarmast, the minister said no one should submit to the demands of such clerics. Later, orator Zia Mohyeddin read out passages from humourist Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi’s prose. The first day of the Urdu conference ended with a Qawwali performance.