A number of books and a
large number of literary and cultural functions were held
in 2004 and one can safely say that in Pakistan, the 'Information
Technology' and 'Internet Service' caused no bad effect
and process of production of printing books remained continued.
The books that were produced discussed a lot of important
subjects such as fiction, poetry, short stories, law,
philosophy, social sciences, human rights issues and other
subjects.
In the wake of human rights activism, a very important
book entitled "Hudood Ordinance: Kitab aur Sunnat
Ki Roshni Mein" was launched by Legislative Watch
Programme of Aurat Foundation at a local hotel. Aurat
Foundation organised the launching ceremony and in fact
the discussion on this book raised more interesting and
thought provoking questions.
Dr Muhammad Tufail Hashmi, author of the book was paid
glowing tributes for his in-depth study and research while
reviewing provisions of Hudood Ordinance in the light
of Islamic Injunctions, for the study had exposed the
alleged negative designs of certain extremists and instead
gave a liberal view towards very important matters dealing
with the women and minorities.
The poetry collection of a young artist and poet, Nadeem
Sibtain entitled 'Lamha Lamha' was considereunique as
Sibtain had also published the pictures of his artworks
in order to elaborate his poetic thoughts and feelings.
The book (containing humorous pieces) entitled 'Mazzaq
Hi Mazzaq Mein" by Fayyaz Haider (Pakistani origin
and now settled in Canada) discusses social issues and
other problems being faced by Pakistanis in Canada. Rizwani
Prince produced her collection of short stories entitled
"Tum Mairay Sangg Hau" that was liked by the
literary circles because of her description and treatment
and characters' knitting. Three books 'Dau Mussawir; Basheer
Mirza Aur Auzar Zubi", "Adab aur adabee mukalmay"
and 'Sassi Punoon, Hashim Shah" by Shafi Aqeel were
launched at Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi.
The poetry works by late poet Jaun Elia remained under
discussion by the literary circles as one of his collections
entitled 'Guman' was published by Khalid Ansari. Previously
Shakeel Aadilzada had produced his collection 'Ya'ani'
and it was also discussed a great deal.
Abdullah Sodagar, Imtiaz Saghar, Qasier Afridi, Muhammad
Rasees Khan, Mumtaz Hussain, Samar Lakhnavi, Farzana Khan,
Dr Khalid Khan, Haroon Shahid, Arif Shafique, Tayyub Raghib,
Rashida Nisar, Saima Ali, Mohsin Alvi, Irfan Abidi, Afaq
Siddiqui, Khalid Moeen, Muslim Husni, Rehana Roohi and
many other writers produced their books and that were
discussed either at the launching ceremony or among the
literary circles. Besides there are a lot of other books
which have been published and distributed, but their authors
have planned to hold their launching ceremonies in 2005
