Ayaz Melo echoes with warnings against extremism
Folk singer Reshma Parveen enthralled the audience with her songs on both nights of the sixth edition of the Ayaz Melo. PHO-TO: APP
As extremist tendencies in varying forms increasingly haunt the conscience of Sindh, inaugural speakers at the 10th edition of the annual Ayaz Melo, drive home the message for promoting tolerance.
Ayaz Melo, a literary festival dedicated to 20th century Sindhi poet Shaikh Ayaz, organised by Prof Amar Sindhu, Prof Arfana Mallah and their group, started in the park of Sindh Museum, Hyderabad on Friday.
The three-day event features two dozen sessions of intellectual and literary discourse besides the musical nights.
Departing from the centuries tradition, an all-female troupe of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai's Raagis rendered a musical and singing performance at the inaugural ceremony, attended by the provincial culture minister Syed Zulfiqar Shah. Customarily, only male raagis stage this show, singing in both male and female voices.
The minister said such events portray the 5,000 years old civilisation of Sindh.
Renowned intellectual Dr Nazir Mehmood, in his keynote address, said, "We are living in a period dominated by a formidable wave of extremism."
He said that the circumstances have put the onus on the public intellectuals, writers and poets to reorient the society back towards the values of tolerance and harmony.
He believed that the common people were never inclined towards extremism as is evident from the history of Sindh which welcomed people from all religions and languages.
The playwright and writer Noorul Huda Shah said, "You [people of Sindh] will have to disinter Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai from his grave in order to exile him before opting to become an extremist nation." "We are not a nation but subjects who are divided with the tools of extremism, tribalism, feudalism, religious extremism and pirs faith healers."
She blamed the state for secretly patronising extremism, tribalism, feudalism and other forms of social divisions to create disharmony in the province. She also accused Pakistan Peoples Party for instilling feelings of despondency among the people through bad governance. "During Ziaul Haq's regime, Sindh's people were suffering from a sense of deprivation. But, in today's PPP's rule a sense of shame has replaced the old feeling."