Karachi Adabi Mehfil Discusses Urdu Literature in Pakistan

It was a lively evening at ‘Adbi Mehfil’ (literary meeting), sponsored by Mohtasib Secretariat Sindh. The Mehfil was enlivened with poetry from Ahmad Faraz and intellectual discourse from Ahmad Maqsood Hamidi and Sarwar Javed. Yusuf Jamal was the host and generous as ever in introducing the guests.

As per schedule, Sarwer Javed described the Urdu’s literary scene as found in Pakistan today. He presented a dismal scene, saying, “we are keeping adrift from books, as such from literature.” Literary periodicals were dying, fiction and poetry both were in bad shape.

Javed felt that at present the society had grown very complex, and exploitative, but, there were no writers to analyze the cause behind it. He was sad to note that non-creative persons were being unjustly promoted. He was also critical of the critics, who were unfair in their judgements.

Ahmad Maqsood Hamidi, a former bureaucrat known for literary taste and massive reading, said that critics were expected to critically examine and explain the artistic value of literary writings and also to improve the taste of the readers…