More than anything else, it was perhaps a sign of the times that the 12th edition of the International Urdu Conference, held December 5-8, 2019 at the Arts Council in Karachi, provided as much space to media issues as it did to language and literature. It was also a sign of the times that even Zorro — the canine companion of a senior and well-known army officer — earned an official mention at one of the sessions during the four-day event. That being so, it is not far-fetched to say that the Conference in its 12th year was able to break the shackles of its nomenclature and become a little more reflective of the larger reality.

There were those at the venue who disagreed with the approach and insisted that the organisers should have kept the focus on the language — the plight of it, actually. But there is no denying the fact that the crowd this year was much larger compared to any of the preceding editions; an indication that, generally speaking, people liked what was on offer.

There were also a few who tried to argue against the expansion of the event to cover other national languages, stressing that Urdu alone should have enjoyed the spotlight. Looking at how the sessions unfolded, the naysayers were perfectly wrong. While the language and literature from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had their share in the synergy that the regional interface added to the conference, the force undoubtedly was provided by Punjabi — the language, that is!

In its 12th edition, the International Urdu Conference expanded to include other Pakistani languages and politics and in so doing was able to become a little more reflective of larger realities

The bottom line is that the sessions on other Pakistani languages added to the Urdu Conference rather than diluting it. If anything, the misleading part in the official title of the event is the word ‘international’. In his wonderful ‘Dialogue with Ghalib’ narrative at the concluding session, Anwar Maqsood did touch on the element, suggesting that Shamim Hanafi, the lone arrival from India, “should be handed a Pakistani nationality so that the conference may become truly national rather than international.” But, then, we all want a bit of grandiosity associated with us and our works, right? And ‘international’ definitely sounds so much more impressive, imposing and inspiring than the rather pedestrian, prosaic and plain ‘national’.

Talking of ‘national’, it was clear that current affairs, more than literature, was the star attraction. Even within contemporary issues, culture and education had to take the proverbial backseat in a vehicle that was driven by politics. When Akhlaq Ahmed gets an audience much smaller than the one that followed Wusatullah Khan, and when Zorro gets a mention and Rekhta doesn’t, it is clear that fiction is losing ground. While Ahmed may well write a short story on the phenomenon in a manner that only he can, the fact remains that any literary event in the country today doesn’t get an audience basically interested only in literature. There has to be an equal — if not larger — component of politics to lure in the crowd.

This, in turn, translates into more space at such events for journalists who carry with them a certain face value in terms of recognition. From Asma Shirazi to Sohail Warraich, from Uzma Alkarim to Hamid Mir and from Mazhar Abbas to Mubashir Zaidi, they were all there and people actually wanted to listen to their pearls of wisdom as if they had not already watched them enough on their television screens. It was probably indicative of the known and acknowledged human urge to ‘watch them in the flesh’ that was working behind this whole thing.

In terms of pure literary merit, the two who stole the show were Iftikhar Arif and Kishwar Naheed. The latter did it even when she was not part of the panel, for instance in the sessions on education and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. For his part, Arif, the amazing conversationalist that he is, was on the panel in a number of sessions and added to his status as a literary intellectual with observations and comments that were seriously cerebral and yet easy on the ears.

The Lifetime Achievement Award Arif got at the conference was simply a case of much delayed acknowledgement; so delayed that it practically failed to add anything to his stature. It may sound like a cliché but, truth be told, in such a case, the award does add to the profile of the event concerned.

In terms of fresh and original content presented at the conference, two things stood out. One was Syed Nomanul Haq’s critical edition of Faiz which is a masterpiece of research-oriented scholarship, and is bound to add significantly in the years ahead to the pleasure of the poet’s followers. The panel, other than Arif, had Zehra Nigah, Ashfaq Hussain and Mazhar Jameel, who unanimously and rightly called it a pioneering work in Urdu literature done in the light of well-established Western literary traditions. When Hussain struck a couple of mildly dissenting notes related to the technicalities adopted by the editor, Haq explained briefly but convincingly his methodology and reasoning on both counts. That, in doing so, he made sense to the members of the panel and the audience alike was a bonus.

The second thing of literary significance was a satirical piece penned by Shahzad Sharjeel who read it out in the session on humour. While there were readings from masters such as Patras Bukhari, Ibne Insha and Mushtaq Ahmed Yusufi, and mimicry of senior poets such as Dilawar Figar and Zameer Jafri at the session, Sharjeel won it hands down with his original stuff. Literary humour has been on the backfoot for a long time and it is about time someone stepped up to the plate. Sharjeel clearly showed early signs of having the potential to do it and it will be great if he actually carries on in the same vein.

And, finally, did we have something that we may call ‘THE’ session of the event? Yes, we did. It was the one featuring Naeem Bukhari in conversation with Arshad Mahmood. It was something to be enjoyed live — and there was a jam-packed auditorium doing that — but there was hardly anything to write about. It was supposed to be about things that ‘generally remain unsaid’, and it turned out be just that. It is better to leave them unwritten as well!

The writer is a member of staff

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, December 15th, 2019