On the occassion of Nouroze a prestigious event was held at Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi. Dr. Saeid Talebinia, Director General of Khana Farhang Islamic Republic of Iran Karachi, was the Chief guest of the Nowruz festival, while prominent scholar and famous poet Farast Rizvi performed the duties of presiding over the poetry reciting session.
Addressing the guests, Talebinia welcomed them to the festival and congratulated them on the occasion of Eid Nowruz. He said that Nowruz is one of the oldest festivals which is celebrated with great enthusiasm in other countries accross the world including Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, India, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. Like other Eids, people wear new clothes on this day, visit the homes of relatives and friends to offer good Eied wishes, and start the new year with love by letting go of each other’s grudges. This day is the day of the beginning of spring, so good wishes are expressed for each other in the beginning of the year. He said that there is no prohibition in Islam to celebrate all those festivals which are not in conflict with Islamic teachings and monotheism, therefore, Nowruz is also celebrated by Muslims with reverence and respect like other religious holidays. The United Nations has included Nowruz among the international cultural festivals and every year the United Nations Secretary General congratulates the nations celebrating Nowruz on the 21st of March. Talebinia thanked the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi for celebrating Eid Nowruz in a grand manner and inviting Khana Farhang Islamic Republic of Iran to the Nowruz gathering. He promised that next year this Eid will be celebrated with the support and coorfinayion of of Khana Farhang and Arts Council, on a grand scale in the presence of artists and media representatives. Prominent writer and poet Farast Rizvi said in his speech that Nowruz festival is a three thousand year old festival, which is celebrated by 400 million people of the world including Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Hindu religious festivals are considered to be the oldest festivals in the world, which are two thousand years old, while Nowruz is much older than them. This festival started eight hundred years before Christ during the reign of King Jamshid of Iran. All the ancient religious and national festivals celebrated in the world have been closely related to seasons in one way or another, so Nowruz is also related to spring. He further said that in the ancient times before Islam, the sun was considered as the source of light in different parts of the world and it was worshiped in recognition of its greatness. In Iran, like the sun, fire was considered a source of light, heat snd energy. That is why it was worshiped there for centuries. He said that when Multan was the capital of Sindh, it was was ruled by Irsnians, therefore Nowruz was celebrated here as a national festival. Even when humans used to live in caves, people used to celebrate some kind of festival related to the weather and seasons. Farast Rizvi, famous poet and intellectual Dr. Fatima Hassan, Naseem Nazish, Dr. Anbarin Haseeb Anbar, Alauddin Khanzada, famous comic poet from America Khalid Irfan and Najmuddin Mousavi presented beautiful poems and ghazals in connection with Nowruz. They were appreciated by the audience. While the young singer Sameer Ahmed won the audience’s appreciation by singing the beautiful poem of Faiz Ahmed Faiz in a heartwarming manner on the occasion of Nowruz celebration. Shakeel Khan, representative of the Arts Council, hosted the event. Apart from famous writers and poets of Karachi, a large number of artists and representatives of the media also participated in this event organized on the occasion
