SUKKUR: More than 100 well-known Sughars (folk poets) from remote areas of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab presented their work at “Sindhi Folk Literature Day” organised by the Sindh Sughar Lok Adab Tanzeem in Mian Sahab village of Shikarpur district on Monday.

The programme was held to mark the Sindhi Folk Literature Day, said the chairman of the organisation and folk literature researcher, Ajiz Rahmatullah Lashari.

Mr Lashari, who presided over the event, the organisation’s central president Gul Hasan Gul Malik, politician Mian Abdul Manan Panhiyar, Ayoob Araz Wahucho, Anjum Channa and others, said the preservation of Sindhi culture and language was synonymous with conservation of folk literature, but no literary organisation or the Sindh government had done anything for its promotion.

They urged the governmental and non-governmental organisations to play their role in the promotion of Qaumi Adab (national literature) and said that Sindhi Folk Literature Festival should be organised regularly on the pattern of Sindh Festival, Sufi Melo and Ayaz Melo so that it could help promote Qaumi Adab.

At the end of the ceremony, the gathering passed a charter of demands regarding the issues of folk literature and Sughars, urging the Department of Culture to create a permanent publication for publishing books on folk literature.

In addition to giving a separate award for work in the field of folk literature every year, the Sindhi Language Authority should also be give representation Sughars on the board of governors of the authority. Competent Sughars should be appointed to compile and promote the history of folk literature and Sughars, it said.

The Institute of Sindhology at Jamshoro should give preference to folk literature in awarding stage and a separate corner for Sughars should be established in the museum and library of the Sindhology.

It said that a notification should be issued to remove fee for folk literature activities at all government auditorium halls including those of SLA, Sindhology and Sindh Museum. A separate award for Sindhi folk literature should be launched every year by the Academy of Literature Paki­stan, Folk Heritage Pakistan and federal government, it said.

It said the folk literature should be included in the curriculum from primary to university level and Sughars should be appointed as teachers to teach folk literature in primary schools.

An official panel should be established at a major hospital at division level to treat on government expenses sick Sughars, poets, writers, journalists and artists.

The Tanzeem launched on this occasion nine books authored by Sughar Allah Bukhsh, Sughar Muhammad Ayoob Ariz Wahochi, Sughar Muhammad Yaqoob Jagirani, and six books compiled by Ajiz Rahmatullah Lashari on different genres of folk literature.

The program featured interesting competitions among the participants, who exhibited their talent in difference genres of folk literature.

Some of the famous Sughars who came from Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh included Mohammad Ismail Lashari, Nooruddin Bumbal, Ali Mohammad Hanbhi, Karim Bakhsh Malik, Dilbar Ali Malik, Rehmatullah Anjum Channa, Ajiz Lashari, Khadim Hussain, Ali Gohar Khaskhali, Syed Mukhtar Ali Shah, Irshad Ali Arzai and Moula Bakhsh Sheedi.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2024