National conference: Life of desert folk highlighted at literary moot

Federal Urdu varsity holds conference on literature of the deserts

KARACHI: The people of the desert document their hardships in a positive way in the shape of folksongs, folktales and other forms of folklore, said professor Nawaz Ahmed Jinjhi, an expert on deserts’ literature, while speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day conference on the subject at Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology on Tuesday.

The keynote speaker said people living in the barren and arid areas have a rich oral heritage. He urged authorities to document this oral history in the shape of audio-visual recordings along with transcriptions so the rich heritage may be saved and transferred to coming generations.

The chief guest for the session, Higher Education Commission regional centre director Sulaiman Ahmed, said the topic of the fourth national literature conference is very unique. According to him, the organisation he works has done extra to promote social sciences and languages, saying they have given grants for research journals on Brahvi, Seraiki and Persian. He admitted that we had failed to document literature emerging from the desert areas of Pakistan.



He informed that the Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, was originally in Portuguese but was widely read when it was translated.

Professor Alamdar Hussain Bukhari, who came from Multan for the event, while talking on the landscape of Rohi in Seraiki poetry, said that Khuwaja Ghulam Fareed has remained an eminent poet of the region. He added that the culture and landscape of Rohi was visible in his poetry.

"The literature of the arid zone of Thar is rich in all aspects, especially the poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai in which he has described the love of homeland through the immortal character of Marui," said Dr Sher Mehrani.

Professor Muzamil Hussain, who hails from Thal desert in Punjab, spoke on 'Thal and its folklore.' He said the opposite of Thal is 'Jhal', which means water. He remarked that culture and land is always a binding force among people.

He said, "Progress and identity of a region and race can be judged from its literature."

Commenting on the language of Acchro Thar, professor Nawaz Kumbhar said where Rohi ends, Acchro Thar begins with the same afflictions and this unfortunate area has never been highlighted by any great poet like Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai or Khwaja Ghulam Fareed. He further added that the dialect spoken in Acchro Thar is never considered as one of the 11 dialects of Sindhi according to experts of the language.

The chairman of Sindhi Language Authority said the poetry of people from deserts covers multiple topics such as life, sacrifice, struggle and happiness.

The chairman of the university’s Sindhi department, Dr Inayat Hussain Leghari, was commended  for having organised a successful conference.