SHEIKHUPURA - An Urdu and Punjabi Mushaira was held under the auspices of the Union of Writers Pakistan here on Tuesday.
In the honour of Dr Mehmood Raza, the poitic gathering was attended by poets belonging to various parts of the country besides Majid Amir as the chief guest. In his welcome address, Fazal Mehmood, the chairman of Union of Writers Pakistan, said that poets were assets of a civilised society because they contributed to promotion of their respective languages and literature.  Since literary organisation provide opportunities for the poets to express their art and vision by holding poetic gatherings, the government should encourage them in terms of financial help and moral support, Fazal added. Dr Mehmood Raza remarked that Urdu was getting popular rapidly throughout the world including Europe.
The event started with recitation of some verses from the Holy Quran followed by presentation of a Naat by Ubaida Azeem.
The poets who read out their poetry included: Aazad Naqeebi; M Younas; Shabbir Hassan; Shahbaz Shaheen; Jaafar Pirzada; Amar Yasir; Anees Raza Qanbar; Dr Shahid; AM Azhar; Sultan Qadri; Sarfraz Ahmed; M Aslami; Mubashir Raza; Prof Javed and others.