Urdu journal launched at LUMS

Team hopes to ‘inculcate love of Urdu’ in the youth.

LAHORE:

The second edition of Bunyad, a journal of Urdu literature, was launched by the Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature at the Lahore University of Management and Sciences on Wednesday.

The event was attended by writers including Fehmida Riaz, Intezar Hussain, Sarmad Sehbai and Dr Tabassum Kashmiri.

Founded by the Gurmani Foundation in April 2010, the Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature aims to promote scholarship in Urdu, Arabic and Persian.

Dr Syed Nomanul Haq, Bunyad chief editor, said that the future of Urdu rested with the young generation. “There is a dire need to inculcate love of Urdu in the youth,” he said. Dr Haq said that the Library of Congress, US had included the journal in their international circulation network.

The Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature has partnered with Sang-e-Meel publications for the distribution of the journal.

Talking at the ceremony Afzaal Ahmed from Sang-e-Meel hoped that the journal would help revive the interest of young people in Urdu.

The cover of the journal has been designed by Sadaf Chughtai. Chughtai, who teaches at the Beaconhouse National University, said the cover was designed keeping in mind the content and the concept behind the journal. “An amalgam of deep rooted tradition and modern art work, the cover experiments with calligraphy,” said Chughtai.

Lums vice chancellor, Adil Najam said that the journal’s aim was to create an interest in Urdu not just among Lums students but young people across Pakistan.

Syed Babar Ali, Lums Pro-Chancellor said there was a need to make Urdu compulsory at all levels. “It is important that the youth understand as well as relate to their mother tongue,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2011.