ISLAMABAD, Jan 8 (APP): President Mamnoon Hussain Sunday urged the writers and poets to analyze the issue of extremism in their literary works to apprise the people of the menace as the brutality shown by some ill minds had no room in religion, humanity as well as civilization.
Addressing the concluding session of the four-day 4th international conference on `Language, Literature and Society’ arranged by Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) here, the president said though every segment of the society was responsible to expose the inhuman agenda of extremists but the writers and poets could play an unmatchable role in that regard.
He opined that literature was a mode of expression which could bring about a long lasting change in the people’s minds and thoughts.
The event was also attended by Adviser to Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui, Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan, Pakistan Television Chairman Ataul Haq Qasmi, PAL Chairman Dr Qasim Bogio, writers, poets and intellectuals coming from across Pakistan as well as abroad.
The president said in international scenario, the future of the world was everyone’s worry with every one questioning as whether the war would ever come to an end.
He questioned as to why the issues like hatred, extremism, violence and hypocrisy were getting grave and the hopes for improvement were diminishing.
The president viewed that the conference would become a source for sharing thoughts as well as awareness on the contemporary and literary trends. The comprehension of such trends and mindset generating consequent to extremism, lawlessness and bloodshed would help create an atmosphere of reconciliation and co-existence thus ultimately strengthening the world peace.
Following the creation of such an atmosphere, the president said, the negative forces would weaken and the people would be able to make the world more beautiful and conducive for their development and prosperity.
He observed that the young writers and poets were keen to explore new avenues by learning from the literary and cultural trends and experiences of the sages for what they must be encouraged.
He said the languages not only fulfilled the social needs but in a multilingual country like Pakistan, those became a strong source of national harmony also. The Pakistani languages were bound by the cultural, ethnic and civlizational commonalities which ultimately brought the people closer to one another.
President Mamnoon said the promotion of language and literature was linked with the mutual contacts and learning from each other’s’experiences. It was inevitable to mould new experiments in languages according to the local needs that would open up new avenues for expression of thoughts.
He was of the view that such experiments were of more importance for a multilingual society like Pakistan so that along with Urdu, the regional languages could also flourish to take part in the national development and bring about the national unity.
President Mamnoon also conferred awards on renowned poet Kishwar Naheed and novelist Abdullah Hussain that was received by his daughter Noor Fatima.
AJK President Sardar Masood Khan stressed the need for using the language and literature for peace, national unity, social development and social justice.
He said Urdu was now spoken in almost 100 states due to the migrants.
He urged the litterateurs to play their role to spread a message of hope among the people and become a strong force against aggression and injustice.
The AJK president also asked the writers and poets to highlight the Indian brutalities in their works so that the Kashmiris’ truth might prevail over the Indian baseless propaganda.
Adviser to the Prime Minister Irfan Siddiqui viewed that
the literature had no boundaries, religion or language as it was
all about humanity.
He told the gathering that the creation of a separate
National History and Literary Heritage Division was in fact
the brainchild of President Mamnoon to bring all literary
institutions under an umbrella.
He said the conference had to be rescheduled to current
dates as an opposition party had announced a sit-in on the
dates coinciding the previous schedule.
He said the Division would continue holding such
conferences in all major cities of Pakistan.
Lauding the performance of the PAL and his team for
holding the event, the Adviser said at the Division they worked
in a friendly atmosphere.
He appreciated the prime minister’s generosity to
support the Division and announcement of Rs 500 million for
endowment fund what he assured would be spent purely for the
promotion of literature and welfare of the writers and poets.
He said a committee would be formed to examine the works
of the literati’s works and their onward publication.
He said the support amount for writers had been increased
from Rs 5,000 to 13,000 and the number of entitled recipients
had also been increased from Rs 500 to 1,000.
He said the prime minister also approved increase of
insurance amount from Rs 0.1 million to 0.4 million with the
number of policy holders also increased from 354 to 700. The
writers’ awards had also been increased from previous 11 to
20.
PAL Chairman Dr Qasim Bogio told the conference that out
of 500 papers they had received, 307 were shortlisted and
presented at the event.
He said the conference was attended by the writers,
poets and intellectuals from China, Afghanistan, Spain, Oman,
Singapore, Uzbekistan, Turkey and others.
He said the PAL had set a translation centre that had
already translated two books and another 20 were in pipeline.
In his address, Secretary National History and Literary
Heritage Division Amir Hassan apprised the audience about the
efforts made by the Division staff and those from other
institutions to make this effort a success.
Thanking all the relevant institutions for their
support, he hoped that the event would help bring a positive
change in the society.
PTV Chairman Attaul Haq Qasmi said the international
conference was a new tradition set the by PAL and the interest
by the prime minister and president in literary activities was
also laudable.
He said besides senior writers and poets, the
universities from across Pakistan also got registered their
young scholars, who got a tremendous opportunity to learn from
the sages.
President of Chinese Writers Association also emphasized
the role of writers and poets for societal reformation.
Talking to APP after conclusion of the conference,
Kishwar Naheed said the moot was a great opportunity to share
thoughts with intellectuals and writers coming from across the
country, including FATA, and even from abroad.
He said such a gathering of men of letters was meant to
give a message that the people wanted peace not bloodshed or
rapes.
She said the society wanted to permanently get rid of
incidents like the girl child home servant Tayyiba who
suffered torture at her workplace.
To a question, she said the message of the conference would
go internationally through media, particularly the social media.
Managing Director National Book Foundation Inamul Haq
Javed, who has dozens of publications to his credit, said the
international conference provided an opportunity to the
litterateurs to learn about new challenges and trends in
language and literature.
He said after their interaction with the intellectuals
of national and international repute, the participants would
feel a clear difference in their thinking that would
ultimately impact their works too.
He rejected the notion that after the flood of
information technology and social media, the book reading
culture was on decline and substantiated his claim citing the
presence of huge gatherings at literary events.
Tash Mirza, an Urdu language professor from Uzbekistan,
also appreciated the holding of the conference on the subject.
He believed that if the resolution passed by the
conference was enforced in true spirit, it would help bring
positive changes in the society, besides promotion of the
language and literature.
Abdul Karim Baryalai, a multilingual writer and poet
from Balochistan, said the holding of an international language
conference was a success that provided them an opportunity to
personally meet their contemporaries and share thoughts and
experiences.
Baryalai has established Zareef Kakar Foundation after
his father’s name and penned around 20 books in Balochi,
Pashto and Urdu, besides translating several foreign
literature books in native languages.
He called for promotion of regional literature by
providing the writers and poets such opportunities to present
their works as well as through translating their publications
in different languages so that non-natives could also benefit
from their works.
