The gathering of Pakistani poets at the fourth annual mushaira on Thursday at PISJ in Azizia also served as a platform to promote the Urdu language. (SG photo by Fouzia Khan)Urdu poets mirror the romantic essence of the language and claim to speak the language of the heart. On Thursday, a unique gathering of 16 Pakistani poets, both local and visitors from Pakistan, lit up the spectrum of the “All Pakistani Poets Evening” with the choicest verses on recent issues, romance, humor and the tragedy of displacement. The mushaira was organized by the Almi Urdu Markaz (World Urdu Center) and sponsored by the Consulate General of Pakistan, at the Pakistan International School Jeddah (Azizia). Attracting a large audience, the gathering went on until after midnight. The evening began with local poets and then, with members of the audience getting more involved in the beautiful verses, they were treated to the finest poetry poets from Pakistan catered. Farooq Moanus' “Hum surat-gar kuch khwabon kay” was followed by Naeem Bazid Puri with his heartfelt poetry “Hamay lagtay hain donoon ik jaysay, humara shahar aur kagaz ki kashti”, Athar Abassi's ghazal “Shaour-e-zat main kuch marhalay sambhal kay rakh; hikayat-e-ghamay janan zara sambhal kay rakh”. The audience applauded the humorous poetry of satirist Salman Gilani from Multan, as well as that of the famous poet Aziz Jibran from Sukkar whose poems and ghazals enthralled the audience. Recitals from Ajmal Siraj from Karachi and Sajjad Babar from Peshawar were also enjoyed by the audience. Other poets present at the mushaira were Profesor Inayat Ali Khan, Saleem Kausar, Dr. Qasim Pirzada, Iftikhar Arif, Sahar Ansari, Khurshed Rizvi, Intikhab Alam, Sarshar Siddique, Mohsin Alwi, Naushad Osman and Zamurd Khan Saifi. At the start of the evening, the welcome speech was delivered by Ather Abbasi, President of Almi Urdu Markaz, who spoke about the progress, development and importance of the Urdu language and his organization's mission in promoting the language. He also spoke about how the language plays an important role in informing people about the region's culture and traditions and the particularly special link between Urdu and Pakistan itself. He also congratulated all those present on the completion of the Urdu dictionary which is in 22 volumes and a major work in the history of the Urdu language. Consul General of Pakistan, Abdul Salik Khan, also spoke at the gathering and said that the Urdu language is still very popular and has a strong hold on the minds and hearts of people in the Subcontinent. It had also secured second position among the most popular languages in the Gulf region. He also suggested that the Almi Urdu Markaz put an index for all 22 volumes of the Urdu dictionary on the Internet and establish an umbrella association for the various Urdu organizations in the region to collaborate and work together for the development and progress of the language.
