Orissa Governor M.C. Bhandare inaugurates the meet of Saarc poets. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 22: While armed personnel are busy fighting Naxalites in deep woods these days, few “peace brokers” have landed in the state capital.

Meet the young writers in 14 languages from seven South Asian nations participating in the three-day Saarc Poetry Festival of Young Poets that commenced here today.

While Pakistan is being represented by its 12-member delegation, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives have deputed 27 writers. Poets from 17 Indian states are participating in the meet that would feature 23 Oriya poets.

The poets from across the eight countries of the Saarc region would voice their concerns about the social, political and peace problems in their countries during the event declared open by Governor M.C. Bhandare.

This festival is the first of its kind in South Asia and aims at providing a platform to share, exchange and present the multi-faceted dimensions of sensitivity of young poets.

For Imojeet Ningombam, it has been 12 years since he started penning poems. Today the 35-year-old poet has to his credit more than 110 compositions of his own. The native of Manipur today recited the poem Thabaton to the gallery packed with keen listeners.

“The poem is done on a character from folk lore named Thabaton,” said Nigombam.

Thabaton, the young and beautiful sister of seven brothers, is kidnapped by Kaibukewawa — a half man and half tiger character. The poem is about how the seven brothers kill the evil creature and rescue their sister.

Similarly, Md Salim Pasha from Islamabad in Pakistan had come with his poem Mohabbat aur Aman (love and peace). “My poem says that holy places all over the world are similar just like mothers all over the world are the same,” he said.

“It is an effort to know what the new generation of poets are thinking and feeling, what their sensitivities are and how much they understand the problems of their neighbours with compassion and understanding,” said K.C. Mallick, the chairman of Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (Biswa), the hosts of the mega event.

“Their collective voices will help create a sensitive and compassionate atmosphere of understanding each other’s problems and creating a congenial atmosphere of friendship peace and tranquillity,” he said.

Today’s event will be followed by similar sessions at Puri, Konark and Cuttack over the next two days.

On Sunday, the participants would enjoy a trip to the Sun Temple in Konark and the pilgrims’ paradise Puri.