Staff Reporter
Karachiites need to take some responsibility for not keeping their city clean. Karachi needs a bunch of creative people to sit together and think about how to take their city forward.
This was said by the administrator Karachi Iftikhar Shallwani on Saturday at the second meeting of the newly formed Karachi Literary Circle on the Frere Hall premises Shallwani, who initiated the idea for the circle in January this year as city commissioner, said there’s no power like the power of the human mind.
We need to acknowledge that, and value creativity. Remembering writer and publisher Asif Farrukhi who passed away on June 1 and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the recently held UBL literary awards, he said the late author had once met him and discussed matters of mutual interest.
He also announced that as the circle moves ahead, awards will be given to writers.
Earlier, journalist and scholar Ghazi Salahuddin, who is leading the Karachi Literary Circle’s activities, talked about the objectives of the group.
He said one of the aims of the group is to reach out to writers and poets in areas which are not part of the mainstream.
Writer Noorul Huda Shah lauded the circle’s decision to keep Mr Shallwani as its head.
Addressing him with reference to his duties as administrator of the city, she said while it’s important to remove trash and garbage dumped in the city, it’s also important to remove the kachra (trash) that people have in their minds.
Poet Afzal Syed went down memory lane to talk about his association with Asif Farrukhi. He said he’d known him since 1980.