From Iftekhar Raghib

Qatar: Bazm-e-Urdu Qatar (BUQ) organized a Mushaira (Urdu Poetry Symposium) recently at the Daccan Hall,  in honour of Dr. Ghazanfar, a well-known Indian fiction writer, novelist and poet. Dr. Ghazanfar is currently on a private visit to Qatar. He has authored several Urdu novels, collections of fictions and other books on varied topics. He is currently the Director of the Academy of Professional Development, Urdu Medium Teachers at Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi.

The session was presided over by senior poet and BUQ chairman Mohammad Mumtaz Rashed. Chief guest of the programme was Dr. Ghazanfar while the guest of honour was Syed Saifullah, the treasurer of Anjuman Muhibban-e-Urdu Hind Qatar. Amjad Ali Sarwar, the president of BUQ conducted the programme while the initial compering was done by Ashfaque Ahmad Qalaque, the joint secretary of BUQ.

The programme kicked off with the recitation of some verses from the Holy Quran by Dr. Ataur Rahman Nadwi. The poetry session was based on a given verse written by one of the leading and prominent Urdu poets of the 19th century, Momin Khan Momin.

In the first part of the session, poems received through e-mail were presented which were composed by following poets: Rashid Kundi (Peshawar), Alia Taqwi (Allahabad), Ahmad Ali Barqi Azmi (New Delhi), Dr. Aftab Alam (Azam Garh), Muzaffar Zafar Azeemi (Karachi), Razia Kazmi (NJ-US), Farooque Ahmad (London), Mahtab Qadr (Jeddah), Ms. Shan (Faisaalbad) and Jaleel Nizami (Doha) and presented by Shahid Akhtar, Ashfaque Ahmad Qalaque, Jawed Akhtar, Roase Mumtaz, Firoz Khan, Abdul Qadeer Shakir, Amjad Ali Sarwar, Shamsuddin Rahimi, Muhammad Ghufran Siddiqui and Jamshed Ansari respectively. In the second part local poets in addition to the chief guest of the function Dr. Ghazanfar and president Muhammad Mumtaz Rashed presented their poetry. Poets who participated were: Amjad Ali Sarwar, Manzar Zaidi, Yusuf Kamal, Aziz Nabeel, Iftekhar Raghib, Mansoor Azmi, Saadat Ali Saadat, Habeeb Hyderabadi and Riaz Azmi. All poems were well received and appreciated by the audience.

Syed Saifullah, the guest of honour, encouraged BUQ for arranging such literary session every month and appreciated their contribution to Urdu language and literature. He also advised all Urdu lovers to join hands together for the promotion of Urdu language.The chief guest, Dr. Ghazanfar, spoke about the condition of Urdu in India and lauded the efforts made by BUQ for the promotion of Urdu literature. He said that this literary session is the one of its kind and so uniquely conducted that a very few literary programmes conducted in Urdu World can actually reach this benchmark, including the programmes organized in different cities of India. He appreciated the zeal and enthusiasm of local poets which they exhibited in their poetry. At the end, he thanked the hosts and congratulated the organization for organizing this outstanding literary programme. In his presidential address, Muhammad Mumtaz Rashed, stated that BUQ has been organizing such literary sessions in Qatar for decades. He added that it was a special literary session particularly for the reason that Dr. Ghazanfar joined as a poet and chief guest of the programme. He thanked the chief guest, guest of honour and all poets and audience for their presence and interest in making the programme a success.