13th Edition of Aalmi Urdu Conference concludes on high note.

13^th edition of ‘Aalmi Urdu Conference’ concluded on a high note with a simple and impressive closing ceremony held here at the Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) Karachi on Sunday 06^th December 2020. Closing ceremony was moderated by Dr. Huma Mir with panelist including host Muhammad Ahmed Shah, Munnawer Saeed, Noor-ul-Huda Shah, Sohail Ahmed, Abaseen Yousuf Zai, Dr. Fatima Hassan, Dr. Qasim Bughio, Moin Mirza and Anwer Maqsood.

As stated earlier, this 13^th edition of Aalmi Urdu Conference was attended by very limited number of writers, scholars, intellectuals & academics but thanks to social media this 13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference was attended online in large numbers.

Dr. Huma Mir who was moderating the final session of 13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference spoke highly of President ACP Karachi, Muhammad Ahmed Shah. She said; “only Ahmed Shah could pull-off an event of such magnitude in this pandemic time”. 

Well known Pakistani dramatist, playwright and scriptwriter Hasina Moin said; “with this conference, I am delighted to see that my country is awake and alive. I pray that it remains like this forever to come. She further said; I do remember the time when only few hundred people use to attend conferences like this one, then it rose to thousands and today more than hundred thousand attended this 13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference online. Ahmed Shah has done a commendable job by presenting this Urdu conference which is for the youth and now it’s time for youths to come forward to take this Urdu conference forward”.

Veteran television artist Munnawer Saeed said; “I was a part of every meeting held for this 13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference. Many advised Ahmed Shah to postpone this event due to ongoing pandemic, but President ACP Karachi Ahmed Shah was against postponing this event and he said that we will organize Aalmi Urdu Conference with adopting all precautions and safety measures required by authorities in their standard operating procedures (SOP)’s”.

Noor-ul-Huda Shah another famous and well known Pakistani dramatist, short-story writer, poet and columnist said; “this Aalmi Urdu Conference feels like a vaccine as it has brought many together and brought smiles on many faces”. She further said; “a lot that has been concealed or has been ignored from Pakistan’s National Language was evident in this Aalmi Urdu Conference. Best part of this Aalmi Urdu Conference was that it had many who speak other local language as their native language”.

Sohail Ahmed best known as Azizi, comedian, stage actor and television actor said; “I consider myself as a very loving person and I try not to become hopeless in any situation. Whenever I think about our culture I get to see as nothing is happening but there are some positive points too. Previously any thought of Karachi use to remind me of Sea, but now whenever Karachi comes to mind, Ahmed Shah comes in my mind too. Ahmed Shah’s effort i.e. Aalmi Urdu Conference is like a vaccine for our culture, which keeps it healthy and going”.  

Abaseen Yousuf Zai a very famous Pashtun poet and also the President of the Pashto Academy of the University of Peshawar said; “this 13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference has increased the prestige of literary and books. Ahmed Shah should be given the title of Aman Shah for this peace loving initiatives”.  

Dr. Fatima Hassan one of the best female poet of Urdu language in Pakistan said; “this conference has served the role of guardian for our culture and for our traditions. Our culture, defines our values and our values are now attach with to ACP Karachi”.

Moin Mirza said; “pandemic days are really for everyone, even loved ones are ignored in the times of pandemic, but ACP Karachi spreading message of love and peace even in these horrid times of pandemic”. 

President ACP Karachi, Muhammad Ahmed Shah spoke about the reasons why he insisted on this conference, and he said; “I had only two reasons to organize this Aalmi Urdu Conference. Firstly was to keep our language and culture alive and kicking, which can be done with adopting all precautionary and safety measures. Secondly all sorts of projects can be carried out in any sort of emergency situation, but with its proper precautionary and safety measure”.

President ACP Karachi, added; “organizing an event of this magnitude was a team effort and I would give due credit to each and every team member involved and I congratulate all members of my team for organizing this event is a very smoothest possible manner”.

Ahmed Shah thanked everyone by saying; “I would like to thank and congratulate all the delegates, guests and participants of this 13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference for making a success”.

On his concluding note President ACP Karachi Muhammad Ahmed Shah said; “if pandemic comes under control, ACP will organize National Cultural Conference on occasion of Pakistan Day and next i.e. 14^th Aalmi Urdu Conference will be held from 02^nd till 05^th December 2021”.

After the end of closing ceremony, came one of the most sought-after script-writer, television host, satirist, humorist and a figure of legendary status Anwer Maqsood, who with sharp double meaning skits criticized people in power. He made sure that everyone present in the auditorium laughed out as loud as they could.

Senior Pakistani actor Sohail Ahmed praises Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi.

Prominent Pakistani actor Sohail Ahmed attended the closing ceremony of 13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference held here at the Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) Karachi on 06^th December 2020.

After attending the closing ceremony, Sohail Ahmed shared his views and said; “after coming to Karachi I realized that there is a big difference between the ACP Lahore and ACP Karachi. ACP Lahore operates like a commercial entity and is in the business of making money, whereas ACP Karachi is taking steps for the promotion of art and culture which is highly commendable”.

He said; “Arts Councils all over Pakistan, who are not working for the promotions of art, should come and learn how to promote arts and literature from the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi”.

Sohail Ahmed further said; “the cultural festivals like the Aalmi Urdu Conference spreads energy and positivity among the nation and I congratulate Mohammad Ahmed Shah for organizing such a wonderful conference. This conference has proved that there are still people who love Urdu and the Federal Government should also pay attention to this”.

On concluding note, Sohail Ahmed said; “with the name of Karachi, the only thing that used to come to my mind was ‘Sea’ but now the name of Ahmed Shah will also come to my mind”.

13th ‘Aalmi Urdu Conference’ inaugurated by Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah.

13^th edition of ‘Aalmi Urdu Conference’ was inaugurated by Syed Sardar Ali Shah, Provincial Minister for Culture and Tourism, Government of Sindh here at the Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) Karachi on 03^rd December 2020. As stated earlier, this year’s urdu conference will be a lot different from all previous conference due to Corona outbreak. Limited number of scholars and intellectuals were seen at the inauguration ceremony and many more attended this inauguration ceremony online. This 13^th edition of Aalmi Urdu Conference was seen live on social media pages of Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi all over the world.

Apart from Chief Guest Syed Sardar Ali Shah and host Muhammad Ahmed Shah other speakers who spoke their heart out were; Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, Zahida Hina, Noor-ul-Hadu Shah, Hasina Moin, Professor Sehar Ansari, Qudsia Akbar, Shah Muhammad Marri, Yusuf Kushk etc, while Iftikhar Arif, Gopi Chand Narang and Yasmeen Hameed addressed the video link. 

Muhammad Ahmed Shah, President Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi said that; “13 years ago this dream was successfully carried-out, but today we are saddened at the inauguration the 13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference because some people are not here with us in this conference”. 

He said that; “due to the current situation, the participation of more people was avoided and many of our writers and poets are joining the conference through video-link in this Aalmi Urdu conference as we have continued this tradition and we want to keep this alive”.

President Arts Council further said; “no language of Pakistan is in conflict with Urdu but some people want to do politics on the basis of language.  There is no difference of opinion among the intellectuals of different languages ​​except for ideas”.

ACP Karachi has honoured many famous and well-renowned writers, intellectuals and artists including Josh Malihabadi, Sadequain, Mehdi Hassan, Kamal Ahmad Rizvi by naming different parts and sections at ACP being named after them.

On concluding note, he said; “the purpose of this Urdu conference is to bring together people of different ideas and let us know that philosophers and writers have created a society with their creations”. 

Syed Sardar Ali Shah, Provincial Minister for Culture and Tourism, who was the special guest at Aalmi Urdu Conference, said that “Ahmed Shah must be given credit for trying to create a real Pakistan in the form of the Aalmi Urdu Conference. The four units of Pakistan are not administrative but constitutional. They have their own language and culture thousands of years old and the Aalmi Urdu Conference of ACP is a link to unite these cultures. This is the dream our elders had in the case of Pakistan”. 

Provincial Minister for Culture said; “Sindh has never spoken of hatred. Sindh is the land of love. Urdu is made-up of many languages ​​and today speakers of many of those languages ​​are sitting here or attending this event online. Besides Urdu, languages ​​of all nationalities should also be declared as national languages. A bill to declare other languages ​​as national languages ​​has been in the assemblies for ten years and we are hopeful that we can have that done soon. This is something that we won’t have to regret that as one of our neighbouring country has declared 26 languages ​​as national languages”.

Yasmeen Hameed from Lahore while reading her keynote dissertation said that; “there is no limit to the literary era. The period from 1920 to 1936 is the end of one era and the beginning of another. Although not at that pace, but this era in an evolving era”.

Gopi Chand Narang, famous literary critic from India said that; “writers and Intellectuals should lead the society. It is the great responsibility of the writers to convey both aspects of the society to their readers. I was born in Balochistan and I did my matriculation from Balochistan, growing up in Balochistan gave me a lot about its culture. I learned Seraiki language early on and it runs my blood like milk. Seraiki language is milk, like the first stream joined in my blood”. He further added that; “the work of Karachi Arts Council is an example for the whole subcontinent.”

Iftikhar Hussain Arif, urdu poet famous for his romantic poetry said; “first of all love your language and your people. Languages ​​have become a political issue in Pakistan.  Many events have taken place in the centenary history of Urdu literature and this one go down as one to remember to its own reasons”.

Professor Sahar Ansari said that; “literature has never received as much attention in this century as it has before. Languages​​ have never received as much attention as humans and animals are getting in this era the only difference between them is literature and languages ​​have played a role in teaching literature”.  

Leading Indian critic and poet Shamim Hanafi said that; “capturing our collective past would be fatal in every way and would limit and divide both the history and geography of our literary and cultural tradition, literature, culture and art.  The treatment of the centres of power is the same everywhere, it needs to be improved”. 

Professor Dr. Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui said that; “this Urdu conference is a practical demonstration of the best performance in adverse conditions. Literature speaks of the virtue of man and humanity”.

Famous Pakistani play-writer Noor-ul-Huda Shah said; “we have been plagued by the epidemic of hatred for years. We lost East Pakistan by being sick with the same epidemic. Only writers, poets and intellectuals have the cure for the decrease in hatred. Literature of any language will be connected with the virtue of man.”

Zahida Hina said that; “despite the cloud of war on the borders and the ongoing global epidemic, the convening of the Aalmi Urdu Conference is welcome. All language speakers in Pakistan should get their due”. 

Dr. Shah Mohammad Marri said that; “they are working for the promotion of literature in Balochistan. For the betterment of the society, writers and intellectuals have to work round the clock”.

Well known writer Hasina Moin said that; “I loves Urdu language and someone who loves and shares is never disappointed”.

‘13th Aalmi Urdu Conference’ to commence from 03rd December 2020 – Ahmed Shah.

13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference’ is scheduled to start in the Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) Karachi from 03^rd December 2020. This was announced by President, Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi, Mohammad Ahmed Shah in a press conference held at lawns of ACP Karachi.

“Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi has been successfully hosting the Aalmi Urdu Conference for last 12 years, however this year the conference will be different from all the previous conferences due to Corona outbreak. The overseas literary personalities will mark their presence digitally in the conference”, these views were expressed by president ACP Karachi Mohammad Ahmed Shah in a press conference.

Addressing the press conference President ACP Karachi Mohammad Ahmed Shah said “due to corona outbreak this year the conference will be limited. Masood Qamar from Sweden, Ghazal Ansari from the UK, Tahira Kazmi from Muscat, and Farhat Parveen from America will join the conference.  Whereas the prominent personalities of Pakistan Zia Mohyuddin, Anwer Maqsood, Sohail Ahmed, Humayun Saeed, Nadeem Baig, Yasir Hussain, Sohail Waraich, Aasma Shirazi, Haseena Moin, Peerzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, Zehra Nigah, Asad Mohammad Khan, Hasan Manzar, Anwer Shour, Mazhar Abbas, Dr. Shehrshah Syed, Kishwar Naheed, Abbasin Yosufzai, Shah Mohammad Marri and others will be the part of the conference.”

The ‘13^th Aalmi Urdu Conference’ will be held from 03^rd December ~ 06^th December 2020 at ACP Karachi. This year the conference will hold the sessions in all regional languages of Pakistan including Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, Siraiki, and Balochi. At the conference, there will be a session ‘Bayaad-e-Asif Farrukhi’ in the memory of late literary critic personality Asif Aslam Farrukhi.

This 4 day Aalmi Urdu Conference will also have sessions like Education, Poetry, Culture, Literature, languages, youth Mushaira, Aalmi Mushaira, and many others.

On the occasion of this announcement Secretary ACP Karachi Ejaz Ahmed Farooqi, Treasurer ACP Karachi Qudsia Akbar and senior actor Munawar Saeed was present.