KARACHI       -      Administrator Iftikhar Shallwani has said that people of Karachi need to take some responsibility for not keeping their city clean.

Speaking at the second meeting of the newly formed Karachi Literary Circle, he said, “Karachi needs a bunch of creative people who could sit together and think how to take their city forward.”

Shallwani, who had 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,” he stressed. 

Remembering Asif Farrukhi, writer and publisher, who passed away on June 1 this year, and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the recently held UBL literary awards, he said that late author had once met him and discussed matters of mutual interest. He further said that that as the circle moved ahead, awards would be given to writers as well. Earlier, journalist and scholar Ghazi Salahuddin, who is leading the Karachi Literary Circle’s activities, talked about objectives of the group.

He said one of the aims of the group was to reach out to writers and poets in areas which were not part of the mainstream. Writer Noorul Huda Shah lauded the circle’s decision to keep 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 had 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.

Journalist and writer Syed Kashif Raza, whose novel, ‘Chaar Darvesh Aur Aik Kachhwa’ has won this year’s UBL prize for the best book of fiction in Urdu, spoke about the plot of his novel and gave his suggestions how to help move the circle ahead.