Books of 5 Indian authors released in Shahmukhi

The 34th edition of the World Punjabi Conference in Lahore saw the release of Shahmukhi edition of five books written by Gurbhajan Singh Gill, Sahajpreet Singh Mangat, Tralochan Lochi, Navdeep Singh Gill and Jang Bahadur Goyal.

Gurbhajan Singh Gill, chairman of the Punjabi Virasat Lok Academy, said the conference paved the way for the translation of Gurmukhi books into Shahmukhi, which would result in mutual love and harmony among the people.

He credited Satinder Noor, Harwinder Singh Hanspal, Ajmer Aulakh, Principal Sarwan Singh, Variam and Fakhar Zaman for working to build bridges between the natives of both states.

Fakhar Zaman, chairman of the World Punjabi Conference, who was a minister in the Benazir Bhutto government, said Punjabi language suffered more at the hands of its own speakers than outsiders. He said the conference succeeded in bringing together Punjabis living all over the world under one roof.

A 65-member delegation from India crossed over to Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah check-post on January 18.

Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh, chairman of the Indian Chapter of the World Punjabi Conference, said Lahore preserved Punjabi language and traditions.

Sahajpreet Singh Mangat, coordinator of the Indian Chapter of the World Punjabi Conference, moderated the opening session and disseminated information on Sufism. Baba Najmi recited his popular compositions promoting Punjabi mother tongue and communal harmony. Reading his paper on Sufism, Dr Sukhdev Sirsa stressed on the message of mutual love propagated by Sufis.