INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION OF LITERATURE AWARD FOR MANSHA YAD

       Islamabad (Press release) In Qatar a two day ceremony of 12^th International awards was held last week under Aalmi Majlis-e-Farogh-e–Adab in Doha city, the capital of Qatar. On the first day of the ceremony, a dinner was arranged in the honour of nominees of the award Mansha Yad, a Pakistani afsana writer, Waris Alvi, a famous Indian critic and other poets who were participating in the mushaira. A great number of literary figures, poets and social figures of the city attended the dinner.  In the meeting, Mansha Yad read his interesting essay titled “main kioon aur kaise likhta hoon” (Why and how I write). Mr. Waris Alvi spoke masterfully on the art of criticism. The meeting was presided over by Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui, who gave his views about the long literary journey and standards of the winners of the award and appreciated their literary achievements. Mr. Abdul Mannan Tarzi, an Indian poet, presented his appreciation of the two award winners in form of a poem.

In grand ceremony held on the day II, the Secretary General of Qatar’s National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage, Mr. Mubarik bin Nasir Al Khaleefa presented the International Promotion of Literature Awards to Mr. Mansha Yad and Professor Waris Alvi in acknowledgement of their outstanding literary services. He also inaugurated the yearly journal of Aalmi Majlis-e-Farogh-e–Adab in which different articles, reviews and papers about the works of both winners of the award and their numerous photos are published. In the second half of the ceremony, a mushaira was held with the famous Pakistani poet Ahmad Faraz in chair. Azm Bahzad was its convener. In the session, Ahmad Faraz, Anwar Masood, Saleem Kausar, Aslam Kolsari, Liaqat Ali Asim, Azm Bahzad, Rehana Roohi from Pakistan and Naeem Akhtar Burhan Puri, Popular Merathi, Shyama Singh Saba, Sardar Panchi and Abdul Mannan Tarzi from India recited their poetry and earned applause.  Zahoor ul Islam Javed and Zahra Sarwat represented United Arab Emirates.  Among local poets, Shafiq Akhtar Naz, Jalil Nizami and Saadat Ali Saadat were the prominent figures. The session lasted till late night.

It is pertinent to mention here that Aalmi Majlis-e -Farogh-e–Adab, Doha (Qatar) presents a gold medal and an award worth 1,50,000 every year to two best prose writers form Pakistan and India and the winners of the award are selected by a jury headed by Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi with Mukhtar Masood, Dr Khurshid Rizwi, Dr Saleem Akhtar and Iftikhar Arif among its members.   This award started in 1996 and from Pakistan, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Ashfaq Ahmad, Intzar Hussain, Bano Qudsia, Mukhtar Masood, Muhammad Khalid Akhtar, Shaukat Siddiqui, Mustansar Hussain Tarar, Abdullah Hussain, Hajra Masroor and Asad Muhammad Khan have been its winners  so far. While declaring Mansha Yad as winner of the award, Mushtaq Yusufi said that his stories enjoy an important status in Urdu literature due vastness of their canvass and uniqueness of technique.  

Dr Inam-ul-Haq Javed
         (Honorary Coordinator)
         Majlis-e-Farogh-e-Urdu Adab

Conference in Pictures