SAARC nation writers seek hassle-free travel

New Delhi, Apr 5: On the sidelines of the 14th SAARC Summit with heads of the eight nations mulling over'connectivity', more than a hundred creative writers and poets from the member countries had an interaction here to rekindle the spirit of a shared cultural and unique civilisational history, crystallised over thousands of years.

The two-day SAARC Conference of Writers and Intellectuals which coincided with the Summit ended here yesterday with a call to the writers for striving to creatively combine traditions and modernity while enriching the regional countries' languages, cultures and identities.

Deliberating in the Conference on topic,' Words, Cultures, Identities : South Asia Dialogue,' promient writers like Mushirul Hasan, Asad Mohammed Khan (Pakistan) and Syed Shamsul Haq (Bangladesh) maintained that strengthening the tradition and identity of every ethnically distinct group of people and exchanging the same with such other groups in the region, would ultimately go a way for better understanding among themselves. Such intra-ethnic understanding, in return, would enrich and deepen recipient culture and language with multi-dimensional expanse over the original moorings and emotional trappings, said Indira Goswami, the eminent Indian writer from Asom.

The men and women of letters from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Maldives also drew the attention towards the subaltern sections and their writings which get maginalised. They pleaded that participant nations should work for peace and harmony in the region so that mounting expenses on defence could be diverted to the welfare of needy and a large section of pauperised population in South Asia.

A session on 'the Future of Our Past: Culture, Memory, Identity' chaired by eminent writer Shahzad Qaiser (Pakistan) sought to remind that 'Sufi traditions bind the people of the region together through a simple but powerful message of love and human brotherhood.

Eminent writer and diplomat Pavan Verma said that history had ''placed us in a juxtaposed position as member countries are still sulking under the shadow of colonialism and we are now being sucked into globalisation which is galloping in the region at a faster pace." Spirited rendering of poems by about 50 prominent poets who dominate the cultural canvas of member countries at two' mushairas' (poetic sessions) regaled the audience reponding with frequent thumping of tables. Some of audience were those who shared States Summit and the 'mushairas'.

The Conference was organised by the "Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, a SAARC recognised body headed by eminent Punjabi writer, Ajit Cour in collaboration with Indian Council for Cultural Relations, a government body chaired by former Union Minister Karan Singh.

Speaking at valedictory function, Ms Cour who had initiated the SAARC Writers Confernece in 2000, said "we are bound together by our common civilisational and historical past and memories associated with it, our common present full of dreams and aspirations for more humantarian and inclusive society. Such our dreams transcend the formal territorial boundaries segregating one country from the other." In warm send-off, Dr Karan Singh said "we are neighbours in more than one ways: we share our roots and legacy, history and philosophy, faiths and languages, clothes, food habits, customs, social moorings and cultural artefacts... which flows back to Indus civilizational history".

The writers, later, adopted a resolution pledging to carry forward their interaction to use their pens with passionate adherence to the cause of freedom, justice, democracy, cultural diversity and respecting otherness of others. For this, creative translations and exhange of cultural troupes should be promoted, they advocated.

They requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is the SAARC Chairman now, to facilitate the cultural exchanges, liberalisation of visa regime and lifting of restriction on writers to travel in each other country.

UNI