Trading verse: Poets complain of thinning readership

Abbottabad Deputy Commissioner Ammara Aamir Khattak said literary programmes help connect people to their roots

ABBOTTABAD: According to renowned poet Raza Hamdani, civilisation and religion have become a commercial activity akin to trade for some people. “A poet is now called a majnoo [someone so passionate they lose perspective] and an artist a painter in Pakistan.” Hamdani was speaking as chief guest at an evening arranged in his honour at Jalal Baba Auditorium by Abaseen Arts Council in Abbottabad on Saturday. He said art and artists were ignored by governments. Abbottabad Deputy Commissioner Ammara Aamir Khattak, who is also a poet, said literary programmes help connect people to their roots, although poetry readers and listeners have reduced with time. “That’s the main reason I have not made my poetry public.” Nonetheless, Khattak recited a couplet penned by her amid applause from the audience.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2016.