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The Pak Youth Society (PYS) organised a reception in honour of well-known visiting Pakistani poet Tahir Hanfi, at the Grand Qatar Palace Hotel, recently.
Hanfi, a retired bureaucrat and an eminent Urdu poet, visited Doha for two days while en route to the US, where he was scheduled to launch his second anthology of poetry titled ‘Gungi Hijrat’ (Dumb Migration).
Community Welfare Attaché at the Pakistan embassy Hafiz Junaid Amir Sial presided over the event.
The reception ceremony also included a poetic symposium which was attended by prominent Doha-based Pakistani poets like Ziaul Haq Shamsi, Qaiser Masood, Tahir Jamil, Asif Shafi and Shaukat Ali Naz.
Farzana Safdar conducted the proceedings of the symposium.
PYS Founding President Tahir Mehmood Chaudhary welcomed the gathering, while Chairman of Majlis-e-Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Mohammad Atiq presented a bouquet to Hanfi.
Introducing Hanfi, Qazi Muhammad Asghar, founder of Pak Youth Society, said they have known each other for a long time.
“It’s a privilege to have Tahir Hanfi among us and listen. He is an excellent poet and a humble person. His poetry reflects the contemporary political and social issues of Pakistan,” said Asghar.
Speaking to media persons, Hanfi, who has served in the National Assembly of Pakistan as an additional secretary besides holding many important positions, said that people may forget a poet but they always remember their good couplets or verses.
“Good poetry is a reflection of the contemporary society. Every poet is influenced or affected by the social and political issues of their times. Poetry is a kind of dialogue about different prevalent issues,” he noted.
Hanfi, who hails from Rawalpindi and whose full name is Mohammad Masoud Tahir Hanfi, said his new book contains poetic works that highlight the issues faced by overseas Pakistanis. “I call it dumb or silent migration because the expatriates go through emotional, social and financial stress without expressing their feelings. They make no complaints and keep supporting their families back home,” said Hanfi, while elaborating on the subject of his new book of poetry.
“Some of the expatriate Pakistani poets have produced excellent work. Those living outside Pakistan feel more strongly about what takes place around them. In many countries, they are not able to express their opinions in open and they have to take recourse to poetic expression to vent out their emotions,” he remarked.
Hanfi’s first book, ‘Shehr-e-Narisa’ (Inexpressive City), was published in 2014. He also worked as a journalist with Pakistan’s leading newspaper.
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04/12/2019
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