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The rise of Punjabi poetry I admire Khaqan Haider Ghazi as a young poet who usually writes in Punjabi but is notably different from most of the Punjabi language poets of his generation because of his modern sensibility and deep awareness of the cultural traditions of Punjab. Sanjh Publications has recently published his 88-page collection of verse under the title Madhu nal Salah. The poetry that we come across in this thin volume has been composed in continuation of the poetic tradition that was founded by Shah Hussain Lahore in the 16th century and was furthered by Bullah Shah in the early 18th century. Ghazi says that his poems are the songs of the land of five rivers. Another book of Punjabi verse that I had the opportunity to go through past week was Aathwan Aasmaan. It is the latest book of Dr. Shaukat Ali Qamar who has already written nine collections of Punjabi-language poetry. The late scholar and secretary of the Punjabi Adabi Board Asif Khan introduced me to his poetry in the late 1980s with laudatory remarks and also gave me a copy of his Aakh di peer which was published in 1983. Shaukat Ali Qamar naw chairs the department of Punjabi language and literature at the Government College University, Faisalabad and is a noted poet, critic and teacher. His 176-page latest volume carries 199 pieces that were composed from 1985 to 2007. The book has been published by the Punjabi Markaz, Lahore. The News: May 24,2009
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