ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: Message of Sufis and mystics could help Pakistan in removing clash of perception and ideas as well as the present vile atmosphere in which the country found itself hemmed in presently, urged a galaxy of poets, scholars, writers attending the inaugural session of a conference titled ‘Literature for Peace’, here on Friday.

Nearly 200 delegates from the four provinces as well as Azad Kashmir are attending the two-day event hosted jointly by the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) and the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU).

Delegates at the conference saw the initiative as an effort to motivate academia and the intellectuals to come together to work for national unity and peace.

The event has been designed as dialogue between different sections of society to find accommodation of views. “Only through such exchange of views the society could find common ground between divergent ideas and end schism,” AIOU Vice-chancellor Dr Mehmoodul Hassan Butt remarked in his welcome address

A number of delegates also looked upon the intended dialogue as walking the talk on Benazir Bhutto’s famous national reconciliation ideas.

Chief guest and Education Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani praised the gathering of writers, remarking, “we need peace here, as well in the world around, as never before”. He was perhaps reflecting on the war hysteria and accusations and cross accusations by Pakistan and India in the wake of the Mumbai carnage.

“Pakistan must try to forge happy relations with the international community since we believe in building harmony among nations, which also is the need of the hour”, the minister said.

About literature and creative arts, he said they were a sort of benign prayer that brought refinement and culture in thinking and motivated people to get rid of hatred, and parochial tendencies.

“Literary pursuits create wider and inclusive circles which makes it possible for us to accept international influences and act on the teachings found in the immortal works of Sufis and eminent poets like Bulleh Shah, Rahman Baba, Shah Abdul Latif, Iqbal, Rumi, Shakespeare and Tagore, who are the heritage of the entire world”, he remarked

The minister also appreciated the effort made in organising a caucus of Pakistani writers for raising voice for peace in the tradition of Benazir Bhutto.

Human rights activist, I.A. Rahman, in his speech, appealed to writers to consider the difficulties of working men, women and children. “Peace can be achieved only after the vast section of humanity gets their rights, since denial of their human rights is an invitation to unrest, extremism, mayhem and all kinds of societal disorders.” He said peace would be achieved after every person in this country and across the world would achieve their inalienable human rights.

In the views of eminent educationist Khwaja Masud, peace was mankind’s earnest desire found mirrored in diverse cultures.

PAL chief Fakhar Zaman welcomed the writers and announced to hold an international conference, which as many as 600 writers from 160 countries would hopefully attend.

He also spoke of opening a new TV and radio channel to promote Pakistani writers and their creative writing. “Electronic networks fail to pay attention to artful creations and through this negligence we could not win appreciation for our rich cultural heritage or spread voice of sanity across the world.

Mr Zaman also mentioned a number of initiatives he is planning, including observance of Sufi festivals across the country, a reshaping of PAL’s literary journal Adbiyat.

Ustad Hamid Ali Khan gave a concert on Friday evening.

Two working sessions will be held on Saturday. The first session will discuss the contribution of Sufis, followed by a second session, which would discuss what role, should writers play in the cause of peace.

The minister gave away awards to writers, poets and civil society activists. The awards for best book writers for year 2006-07 were also given on the occasion. For year 2006, ‘Khushhaal Khan Khattak Award’ was given to Hamayun Hammad for best Pashto language book, ‘Pitras Bukhari Award’ to Moni Mohsin for best English book, ‘Taj Mohammad Tajal Award’ to Zauq Brahivi for Brahivi language and ‘Khawaja Ghulam Fareed Award’ was presented to Irshad for Saraiki book.

For year 2007, ‘Khushhaal Khan Khattak Award’ was given to Darvesh Durrani for best Pashto language book, ‘Pitras Bukhari Award’ to Faryal Gohar for best English book, ‘Taj Mohammad Tajal Award’ to Arif Zia for Brahivi language and ‘Syed Waris Shah Award to Sadeeq Taseer for Punjabi language and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai Award was presented to Altaf Hussain for Sindhi language.

Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi was given ‘Dr Allama Iqbal Award’ for Urdu poetry book while Asad Manzar was given ‘Baba-i-Urdu Maulvi Abdul Haq Award’ for Urdu prose book. Kamal-i-Fun Award for year 2007 was presented to Ajmal Khattak.