N. America’s Show
of Support for Urdu
By Ayub Khan
Toronto: Urdu is not a threatened language
but is alive and well, proclaimed Dr.Gopi Chand Narang,
noted critic and president of Indian Academy of Letters,
at a three-day International Urdu Conference held in Toronto
from June 17-19. He said that the organization of such conferences
in North America proves that Urdu will continue to flourish
in the future. He said Urdu should not be restricted to
the Muslims alone but should be promoted as a universal
language.
The conference, organized by the Urdu Times, was attended
by well-known poets, writers, and journalists from Pakistan,
India, UK, France, and Canada. Sessions were held on Literature
and Modern Trends, Iqbal Studies, Ghalib Studies, Urdu Media’s
New Challenges, Religious Poetry, and Women’s Urdu
Literature.
Speaking at the conference Zahid Ali Khan, editor in chief
of Siasat Daily, Hyderabad, said every year more than 50,000
students from Urdu schools drop out in the state of Andhra
Pradesh alone. He said it is vital that the students remain
in schools and that the schools’ standards should
be raised to meet modern challenges. He appealed to the
attendees to sponsor at least one student in a year. Khalil
ur Rahman, publisher of the New York-based Urdu Times, announced
that he will sponsor the publication of quality Urdu works
and that an international jury will select the submitted
works.
The conference resolved that immediate measures need to
be taken to protect the Urdu script in its present form.
Dr. Taqi Abedi, convener of the conference, said the Perso-Arabic
script is not the clothing but the skin itself of Urdu language.
The conference resolved to form an international committee
to solve issues relating to the count of the Urdu alphabet
and the teaching of Urdu in Sunday Islamic schools in North
America. The attendees appealed to the Pakistani and Indian
governments to ease travel restrictions on poets, writers
and other literary figures.
The conference concluded with a Mushaira attended by over
1500 people. Dr.Jamil Jalibi, Dr.Shan ul Haq Haqqi, Dr.David
Matthews, Dr. Peerzada Qasim, Wakil Ansari, Mona Shahab
and other national and international poets took part in
it. Another international Urdu Conference is being held
in Hyderabad in November.
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