Earlier Nazar Fatimi recited a ‘Na’at’ from a poetry collection by Khusro. Syed Naseem Kazmi and Akhtar Saeedi paid poetic tributes to Khusro while presenting their poems. The speakers including the president and the chief guest observed that Khusro created excellent poetry and gave wonderful short stories to the Urdu readers. It may be mentioned that Khusro is also a good painter. He is a former Squadron Leader at Pakistan Air Force. His father Natique Badayuni was also a famous poet and writer. The speakers mentioned his poetry collections titled ‘Dil Kay Band Dareechay’, ‘Meri Masoom Sheh Bano’, ‘Gayee Saal Ki Dairy’ (translation of poems from Urdu to English by Tabeer Ali) and ‘Bargad Ki Jattein’, a collection of short stories and ‘Sukhan Dar Sukhan’. His metaphors and symbols used in his ‘Dau Ghazla’ and ‘Seh Ghazla’ sound fresh and dimensional in terms of meaning.
The speakers pointed out that the stories by Khusro dealt with the issues relating to humans and problems of weak sections of the society, including the HAT office bearers, a large number of writers and scholars attended the function that include Muhammad Zubair Tahir, Mirza Aasi Akhtar, Sahartaab Roomani, Faheem Burney, Muhammad Ali Gohar, Shuja Shaad, Rehana Roohi, Faraz Ahmed, Dilshad Kheyaal, Muhammad Rafiq Mughal, Muhammad Anees Merchant, Meer Hussain Ali Imam, Mehmood Sultan, Sadia Hareem, Kishwar Urooj, Khursheed Ahmed, Rafiuddin Raaz, Siddiq Raaz, Shazia Tariq, Abdullah Ejaz, Sahabzada Ateequr Rehman, Yasir Siddiqui, Kawish Kazmi, Syed Abdul Basit, Shahnaz Rizvi, Humaira Sarwat Siddiqui, Ghaus Ali Jaffery, Kamran Mughal, Shaaiq Ali, Tanveer Sultan Barri, Syed Ahmed Sohail, Mehfooz Ali and Aftab Farooqui.
Meanwhile, the Mummasilaat E Asraar (MEA) at an online sitting remembered Kashif Ali Hashmi who passed away, the other day. The participants of the meeting expressed their deep shock and grief saying Kashif Hashmi was a part of the team of Halqaa e Arbaab Zauq (HAZ) and MEA at the time of beginning of virtual sittings. He had made his mark as a distinguished Urdu poet. Kamran Mughal presented a poem remembering Kashif Hashmi as a creative poet. Khawaja Muhammad Aazam noted “Kashif left us at a young age and will never be forgotten by us.” Sarwar Ghazali, Intezar Mehdi, Mah Jabeen, Maria Mahwash, Tabbasum Zehra Razvi, Anwar Zaheer Rehbar, Ishrat Moeen Seema, Farhat Qureshi and others condoled the sad demise of Hashmi. Khawaja Muhammad Aazam pointed out that a poetry collection titled “Abhi Tak Khawab Kay Zair-e Assar Hoon” was recently published by Kashif Ali Hashmi.
A famous humorous poet Khalid Irfan had fully assisted late Kashif in the publication of his collection. A program to launch the book at Arts Council, was underway but his serious ailment hindered the program. The sitting chaired by Faheem Islaam Ansari and conducted by Rizwana Fehmi was attended by several writers who paid homage to late Kashif Ali Hashmi and expressed their sympathy with the bereaved family. During another MEA virtual function held in honor of Sawar Ghazali, was presided over by Faheem Islam Ansari. Pervez Bilgraami was chief guest who described a brief history of the genre (‘afsaancha’) in question. Rizwana Fehmi moderated the function. Sarwar Ghazali presented his several of his ‘afsaanche’ (shortest stories in their length) such as ‘hara howa malah’, ‘shaadi card’, ‘aadi chor’, ‘pachaasvien salgirah’, ‘footpath’ and others. He was highly commended for his creative skills. Pervez Bilgrami, Professor Shahnaz Parveen, Shabana Naveed, Anwar Zaheer Rehber, Ishrat Moeen Seema, Kamran Mughal, Khawaja Muhammad Azam and Rizwana Fehmi while commenting on the art of Sarwar Ghazali said he was a few short story writers who made their own mark in writing meaningful and successful ‘Afsancha’.
