12th Mir Punjabi Mela concludes in Lahore

LAHORE – The 12th Mir Punjabi Mela was organized in collaboration with Prof. Ali Arshad Mir Foundation and Punjab Arts Council, Lahore.

During the two-day event, books of different genres of Punjabi literature were awarded with "Ali Arshad Mir Award". Fauzia Rafique's book was selected for Punjabi Prose Literature.

In Punjabi Poetry, the books of Asim Padhiar and Arifa Shehzad were selected  in Catagory of Punjabi Poem while the Zafar Awan's book was selected for Punjabi Ghazal. Abdul Karim Qudsi in Punjabi poetry for children's literature and Dr. Fazilat Bano for prose were awarded.

Mehboob Sarmad's hymn collection was selected in the field of religious literature.

The late Aleem Shakeel was given the Special Ali Arshad Mir Sewak Award for his services to Punjabi literature.

During the Mir Punjabi Mela, various sessions on culture and literature were held in which Ammar Kazmi, Ilyas Ghuman, Saeed Bhutta, Iffat Ashiq, Ijaz, Akhtar Khan, Asim Aslam and Riaz Danshwar shared their thoughts. Farooq Nadeem, Azam Malik and Prof. Dr. Sarmad Farooq Arshad hosted the sessions. Upon hearing the sudden news of the death of renowned Punjabi writer and intellectual Colonel Nadir Ali and poet Izad Aziz, the audience stood up from their seats and expressed their sorrow and silence.

Nadeem Abbas and Taranjan Natak Mandali performed Sufi dance and Ali Arshad Mir's poetry Presented in the form of drama and received praise from the audience.

In addition, an All Punjab Mushaira was presided over by Masood Okardvi. Famous poets and poetesses like Sabir Ali Sabir, Azam Malik, Tahira Sara, Saghir Ahmed Saghir, Safia Hayat, Saima Almas, Ahmed Naeem Arshad, Arshad Manzoor, Mushtaq Qamar, Iqbal Darvesh, Ali Josha and Prof. Dr. Sarmad Farooq Farooq Arshad presented their poetry and revived the poetic tradition of Ali Arshad Mir.

In the end, Tawheed Ahmad Anas, Kale Khan Bhag, Noman, Arshad Ali, Bilal Rajab and Maimona Sajid sang the poetry of Prof. Ali Arshad Mir and received a huge praise from the audience.