Dept of Urdu Organizes 3rd Forman Urdu Conference 2019
The Urdu Department held 3rd Forman Urdu Conference 2019 on 25th April 2019 at FCCU.
It was an effort by the Urdu Department to promote Urdu as the national language, acknowledge the services of FC College founder Dr Charles W Forman for the promotion of Urdu and the institution’s role in this. This year, the conference was themed around addressing issues related to the development of Urdu curriculum, teaching, fiction and criticism in the light of contemporary global needs.
The inaugural session was hosted by Professor Hina Patrick and presided over by FCCU Rector Dr James A Tebbe. In “Harf-e-Aghaz”, the opening speech, Professor Tahir Masood, Chief Coordinator, presented the purpose and objectives of the conference along with a brief report of the last year’s conference. He apprised the audience that Dr Forman was an Urdu language and literature enthusiast and wrote 19 books in Urdu, most of which were published by Mission Press, Ludhiana.
The first session of the conference, titled “Foundations of an Ideal Urdu Curriculum”, was hosted by Professor Misbah Kanwal and presided by renowned educationist and literary personality Professor Dr Khawaja Muhammad Zakrya (Pride of Performance). Scholars including Dr. Najeeb Jamal, Dr Najeeba Arif and Dr Muhammad Saeed expressed their views related to the factors which play a vital role in the establishment of an ideal Urdu curriculum.
The second session, “Creativity and Procedures of Creativity”, was moderated by Professor Aneel Samuel. Renowned contemporary authors and novelists Akhtar Raza Saleemi, Amina Mufti and Raza Naeem were the guests in this session who explained the relationship between creativity and criticism. They also talked about elements, hurdles, stages and procedures of creativity in the light of their popular novels.
Professor Masood shed light on the participation of Allama Muhammad Iqbal in the various events of FC College and also illustrated the process of creative writing by presenting an interesting dialogue between Allama Muhammad Iqbal and the third Principal of FC College, Dr Lucas. Professor Aneel Samuel, Head of Urdu Department, presented a word of thanks to the participants of the conference. FCCU Vice Rector Dr Sufian Aslam hailed the services of the Urdu Department in promoting the national language among the Intermediate students, teachers and scholars.
In his speech, given in Urdu, Rector Dr Tebbe (SI) said that languages have living relationships with the hearts of people, and noted that Urdu has a special place in the hearts of FCCU family. “We teach Urdu as a compulsory subject to our students at graduation level,” said Dr Tebbe.
A Mehfil e Mushaira was also held which was presided over by Adam Jee award winner Urdu poet Nazir Qaisar. It was hosted by renowned poet and FCCU Urdu Department Chairperson Dr Akhtar Shumar. Abbas Tabish, Hameeda Shaheen, Wajid Ameer, Akhtar Raza Saleemi, Ahsan ul Haq Mazhar and Dr Shahida Dilawar Shah presented their poetry during the mushaira. At the end of the conference, Akhtar Raza Saleemi introduced newly developed Urdu proofreading software “Harf Kaar” and took questions from the audience.