In the valedictory session, Pakistani writer, K.K. Aziz, highlighted the status of Urdu and the nature of ghazals in his country. He said Urdu poets like Iqbal, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Abdul Qadir had disowned the Punjabi classical lore and avoided all mention of Heer and Sohini or Ranjha and Mahiwal. ?By disowning this rich Punjabi classical lore, the Urdu ghazal has brought to itself the reproach of being artificial or at least foreign to the territory,? he added. Underlining the dominance of Persian tradition in Urdu, Aziz said, ?It has hindered the growth of Urdu language as a result of which even modern ghazal-poets have failed to borrow words from Hindi and Punjabi and other Indian languages. As Urdu was nursed under the aegis of the palace and not in the hamlets and hovels of the hinterland, Urdu ghazal lacks good ethical content,? he concluded.
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