Salima unfolds interesting incidents from Faiz life

The Fifth Faiz Festival formally began on Friday with a conference on “Faiz and Government College Lahore” where in her inaugural speech, Ms Salima Hashmi, unfolded some very interesting incidents from the life of her father, Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

“The Government College Lahore remained very close to the heart of Faiz throughout his life, because it’s here he got the great teachers like Patras Bukhari and Sufi Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum; whenever Faiz writes something, he takes it to Sufi Sahib at his residence in Samanabad, Lahore, for guidance and correction, while the character and personality of Patras Bukhari Sahib inspired my father throughout his life,” said Ms Hashmi at the conference held at the GCU’s Bukhari Auditorium. She added that her father had a great wish to teach at the prestigious Urdu Department of Government College, but he was denied this opportunity because he didn’t had the MA Urdu degree. “Faiz (who is now taught to the students of MA Urdu) had Masters Degrees in English and Arabic,” she said.

Arshad Mehmood, who is quite famous now, was the student of my husband Shoaib Hashmi at the Government College Lahore. Arshad once asked Faiz that we both did MA from the Government College Lahore, but you’re Faiz, and I’m not - at this, Faiz promptly replied that I was student of Patras Bukhari, and you’re student of Shoaib Hashmi,” said Ms Salima Hashmi, who is the chairperson of Faiz Foundation Trust (FFT).

Ms Hashmi also talked about the Faiz’s different close friends, including Amir Hussain Shah, the father of GCU former Vice-Chancellor Hassan Amir Shah. Addressing the conference, GCU VC Mr Asghar Zaidi said Faiz Ahmad Faiz was a progressive and revolutionary poet who spoke of ground realities and public situations. He stressed that universities should be the hub of literary, cultural and social life of cities. “It’s a matter pride for us that Faiz Festival is being inaugurated here, and our students are getting an opportunity to learn from the life of a great Old Ravian,” he added. The Vice-Chancellor assured the Faiz Foundation of his maximum support in holding such literary events in the future as well. Basir Sultan Kazmi, an eminent poet and son of illustrious father Nasir Kazmi (late), talked about the impact of Faiz on Western scholars, saying that Faiz poetry stimulated from work and struggle wherein they asked the public to never lose hope. Eminent Urdu critics Prof Dr Saadat Saeed, Prof Dr Khalid Sanjrani, Dr Tariq Hashmi, Dr Sheer Ali and Dr Imran Zafar also addressed technical session of the conference, and highlighted different aspects of the personality and poetry of Faiz.