Focus returns to national language

Seminar on Urdu short story organised.

ISLAMABAD:

Censorship and restrictions in society force writers to explore new avenues in literature while exercising new styles in writing. This was said by National Language Authority (NLA) Chairperson Dr Anwaar Ahmed on Thursday in a seminar on “Urdu short story: its past, present and future” arranged by National University of Modern Language’s (NUML) Urdu department.

Ahmed added that the literary journal “Naqoosh”, published by Muhammad Tufail in 1954-55 remains the core reference for students of Urdu literature. The journal includes pieces by Urdu literature stalwarts like Sadat Hassan Manto who in the journal defines the short story as “an expression transferred into the mind of readers using the least amount of words.”

He said that writers like Rashidul Kheri, Prem Chand, Ghulam Abbas and Manto created their own schools of thought that paved the way for succeeding generations of writers like Quratulain Hyder, Intezar Hussain, Ashfaq Ahmed and many others who fight against suppression and preach morality.

The seminar was attended by a large number of students, faculty members and the head of the Urdu department.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2011.