KARACHI: The University of Karachi on Tuesday organised the Shaikh Ayaz Centennial Conference at its Arts Auditorium on Tuesday.

KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi, while addressing the opening session of the conference, said that Shaikh Ayaz was a great poet who believed in universal human peace.

He said when a poet speaks the truth, he has to pay the price, and Shaikh Ayaz paid that price like Faiz Ahmad Faiz and others. `We need to popularise Shaikh Ayaz`s concern among our students. He was a great poet of Sindh, and his legacy of thought will always guide the people of the province.

Prof Munis Ayaz, son of Shaikh Ayaz, said that his father loved hismother tongue very much and also had great knowledge of the Urdu language.

Renowned writer Madad Ali Sindhi read out the message of Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah who said that intelligent nations always remember their writers, scholars, and intellectuals.

Dr Jafar Ahmad mentioned that Shaikh Ayaz has translated Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai`s poetry into Urdu and spent his life fighting against cruelty like Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

The KU dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Prof Dr Shaista Tabassum, said that Shaikh Ayaz introduced a new thought through his poetry.

He had a revolutionary spirit that is found in very few people.

The chairperson ofthe Sindhidepartment, Prof Dr Naheed Parveen, Mehtab Akbar Rashidi, Madad Ali Sindhi and others were also present.