The unveiling ceremony of the latest books published on Pakistan’s language and literature was held virtually on Monday, May 17, 2021 at the ECO Cultural Institute in the presence of representatives of the Embassy of Pakistan, writers, researchers and university professors.
According to the ECO Cultural Institute, at the opening of this virtual meeting, Mr. Sarvar Bakhti, President of the ECO Cultural Institute, emphasized on the importance of the ECO region as a cultural and scientific privilege and a worthy platform for intercultural interaction. He further said: “ECO societies in all ages have paid special attention to reading books and knowledge has always been viewed as a significant merit. Writers, poets and artists, as cultural ambassadors, through creating scientific and literary works, have played significant role in preserving the cultural heritage of ECO countries.”
“The vast field of Pakistan’s national literature, which is one of the important components of cultural heritage and an element of national and historical identity, draws a comprehensive image of values and norms that can be seen in the literary and artistic works of the people of this land”, he added.
Mr. Mubasher-Ali Zaidi, the author of “Tree of Words (Collection of Minimal Stories)”, thanked Mr. Sarvar Bakhti for his initiative and discussed the influence of Persian language on Urdu literature, saying: “the use of Persian language in Pakistan is very vast and Persian-speaking poets in Pakistan create works in Persian language” He expressed hope that with the publication of the works of poets and writers in Iran and Pakistan, the ground of familiarity with the culture and literature of the countries will be provided more than before.
In this meeting, Dr. Ali Bayat, Associate Professor, Department of Urdu Language and Literature, University of Tehran, analyzed the poetry collection “Pirhan Gom Karde’am” composed by Ahmad Shahriyar in two sections: “first, the poems that embody the elements of Hindi style; second, the poems that due to the poet`s long-term presence in Iran and his acquaintance with Iranian contemporary poets, have Persian elements which in terms of themes and concepts are in line with the works of prominent contemporary poets of Iran.”
Dr. Ali Davoudi, Director of the Poetry Office of Arts Center, in his turn, stated that: “Today, many Pakistani scholars have sought to learn Persian as well as to recite Persian poems. One instance is Seyyed Ahmad Hosseini, known as Shahriyar.” He continued: “The poetry collection entitled “Pirhan Gom Karde’am” is remarkable as it contains the poems that reflect old poetic aesthetics influenced by Indian school, and those embody modern approach”.
Dr. Vafa Yazdanmanesh, Associate Professor of the Department of Urdu Language and Literature at the University of Tehran, elaborated on the history of storytelling in Urdu, the features of the book “Tree of Words”, the need to translate Urdu works into Persian, especially in the field of fiction; translator’s skills and his command in Persian and Urdu were the topics discussed. At the end, she highlighted the effective role of ECO Cultural Institute in introducing the works and encouraging specialists to translate the works of Urdu.
Following the meeting, Ms. Ambreen Ashraf, Pakistani PhD student in Persian in Shahid Beheshti University, while giving a biography and introduction to the works of the late Shahed Choudhary, evaluated the second edition of “Comprehensive Grammar of Urdu Language for Persian-speaking People” published by ECO Cultural Institute and said: “Although the grammar of the Urdu language has its own rules and regulations, the roots of both languages are strongly related; and for this reason, Iranians can easily learn Urdu.”