SUKKUR: Folk poets from Sindh, South Punjab and Balochistan, who participated in the two-day 10th National Sughur Conference that concluded in Thull, Jacobabad district, on Monday, demanded the government establish an institution for Sughurs to promote and preserve folk literature.

They were speaking at the moot, jointly organised by the Sindh culture department and Sindh Sughur Lok Adab Tanzeem (SSLAT), which was held to mark death anniversary of great Sughur and Sufi poet of upper Sindh, Ustad Bahar Ali Bahar Buriro, regarded as an authority on Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai.

Founder chairman of SSLAT and leader of the Save Folk Literature Movement, Ajiz Rahmatullah Lashari, researcher Dr Ali Akbar Aseer Qureshi, Sufi scholar Moor Mugheri, SSLAT central president Gul Hasan Gul Malik, poet Sanwal Mirali and others said that survival of Sindhi culture and language rested with folk literature. If the language was to be saved, the folk literature must be preserved, they said.

They demanded the government establish an institution for Sughurs and urged Sindh culture department and literary institutions toplay a proactive role in preserving folk literature.

They said that talented Sughurs were striving for the preservation of their legacy but they lacked enough resources to save their national heritage and promote ancient literature.

They proposed that Sindh culture department, Academy of Letters, Sindhi Adabi Board, and Sindhi Language Authority should jointly establish a strong institution to work on folk literature and its translation into all languages to introduce it on global level.

The conference passed a number of resolutions demanding the project of controversial canals on the Indus River be abolished, a separate institution be established to save Sindhi folk literature, a publication house be set up to publish books onfolk literature,a separate award be given for folk literature every year by the Sindhi Language Authority, Sughurs be given representation on theboard ofgovernors of the authority and Sughurs be appointed in the authority`s encyclopedia department to compile history of the folk literature or folk poets.

The resolutions urged the Institute of Sindhology to give priority to folk literature in the distribution of awards, convene a folk literature conference every year and establish a separate cornerfor Sughurs in the Sindhology Museum and Library.

A notification should be issued to abolish fees for holding folk literature activities in all government auditorium halls and a government panel should be established in all major government hospitals for the treatment of ailing Sughurs, poets, writers, journalists and artists at government`s expense, said the resolutions.

The two-day moot held separate gatherings and sessions on Sindh, Saraiki and Balochi folk literature and published books on Sindhi folk literature in which folk poets who had come from all the three provinces read out poetry.

The first volume of the Sindhi Comprehensive Directory of Sughurs compiled by Ajiz Lashari and published by the Sindhi Adabi Board, and Dharti panhji dhoor sunjati ( T he earth recognised its dust) by Mahboob Ali Depar were launched on the sidelines ofthe conference.

Earlier, more than 100 poets including Sanwal Mirali, Zulfiqar Buriro, Khadim Hussain Manglo, Gul Hasan Gul Malik, Pathan Mahar, Abdul Sattar Mirbahar, Punhal Piyasi Buriro, Irshad Ali Arzai, Muhammad Ismail Pahor and Haji Arbelo Mangi presented their work on the promotion of education, law and order, inflation, honour killings, feudal system and tribal terrorism.