LAHORE: The 28th Faiz Amn Mela will be held at Open Air Theatre, Bagh-i-Jinnah on Sunday (tomorrow) to mark 109th birthday of revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

The annual event is organised by the Faiz Amn Mela Committee, a network of 45 progressive organisations on the theme of ‘Hum Dekhein Gey”.

The committee met seven times to chart out the programme with the cooperation of the Lahore Press Club.

The event, comprising different sessions, will start at 12pm. The first session will be on “Youth Movement in Pakistan and Role of Faiz Poetry” with the speakers, including Dr Ammar Ali Jan, Arooj Aurangzeb, Mohsin Abdali, Awais Qarni, Comrade Sana, Haider Butt and Haider Kaleem.

Famous poets will recite their poetry in the second session. They include Baba Najmi, Tahira Sra, Dr Khalid Javed Jan, Dr Nazir Qaiser, Sabir Ali Sabir, Afzal Saahir, Azam Malik, Sabahat Arooj and Sofia Hayat.

Third session comprises classical dances and street plays. Ajoka Theatre would perform Bhullah while Awami Rang will also stage street plays.

International classical dancers Nighat Chaudhary, Adnan Jehanghir, Amna Mawaz, Gillian Rhodes, Ali Mohsin and Faizan Ahab will thrill the audience with classical dances on Faiz poetry.

In the last session singers Amir Ali Naushad, Adeel Barki, Taranum Naz, Anait Abid, Nasir Khan, Lal Band, Aisha Afzal and others will sing revolutionary songs.

Faiz Amn Mela Committee convener Farooq Tariq says they have hoisted at least 1,000 panaflexes in the city, distributed thousands of pamphlets and approached students at almost all major educational institutions for mobilising the masses for the event. He has also appealed to the Lahorites to come and join the fair where entry is free while food will be available at subsidised rates.

Mr Tariq says the main aim of the festival behind the event to pay tribute to Pakistan’s best known poet of Urdu and Pakistan and introduce his socialist thoughts to the younger generations.

He says Faiz’s poetry has once again helped the movement in India to spread like fire of jungle and Hum Dekhein Gey has become a household poetic expression. He says the event is being organised as a joint effort of all the forces of the Left in Punjab capital.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2020