Daily Times

The third edition of the annual Lahore Literary Festival returned to New York this Saturday, at the Asia Society. The festival was a celebration of Pakistan’s cultural, intellectual, and artistic richness that brought together the South Asian community residing in New York. The event was sold out in advance, and the halls of the Asia Society were jam packed.

Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi appraised the founder of LLF, Razi Ahmad, for once again bringing Lahore to New York through creative voices that are emblematic of a vibrant society and a living nation. She further described the festival as “a safe space for dangerous ideas”, a place where discourses of a country’s problems are re-conceptualised and opinions are challenged.

The one-day festival concluded with a Mehfil-e-Qawali performed by globally acclaimed artists Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad Qawwal. It was a soulful evening where attendees enjoyed the Sufi Kalam

Founder Razi Ahmed reminded that this year’s New York edition of LLF marks Pakistan’s 70 years of independence in a space where the country’s leading voices can directly reach the general public. LLF is the representation of Pakistan’s diverse talent and its creative expression at an international platform, where fellow South Asians and all others get a chance to engage with Pakistan’s cultural and intellectual progression. South Asian Historian, Ayesha Jalal delivered the keynote address on Liberalism and ‘the Muslim Question’ through Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s understanding of Islam and modernity, by revisiting his work. The keynote address was followed by a panel discussing how Pakistan has come of age. The panel included Professor Ayesha Jalal, Editor Daily Times Raza Rumi, and the Pakistani representative of the Human Rights Watch, Saroop Ijaz. In an answer to a question about the upcoming elections, Ayesha Jalal said: “Pakistanis are still in the process of deciding what they want, and the idea of Pakistan is still in the process of shaping. Pakistan will fully come of age when we will be mentally decolonised”. When asked about the freedom of the press and state censorship, Raza Rumi answered saying that while the press continues to abide by structural issues such as constitutional restrictions, new media technologies are difficult mediums for the state to negotiate with. Traditional structural barriers are not applicable on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram, therefore social media provides an alternative space where people can freely express their views, he added. The panel also remembered the exceptional contributions and unmatched bravery of late Asma Jahangir whose legacy is the way forward for Pakistan.

A panel discussion between leading expert on Afghanistan and South Asia Barnett Rubin, author and Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University Kathy Gannon and Dawn columnist Zahid Hussain critically analysed US-Pakistan relations in light of the ongoing havoc in Afghanistan, pointing out mistakes and losses. The panel concluded on the note that no expert should make any predictions about Afghanistan, as there are no experts on the latter due to its ever changing situation.

A panel on new settlements of Urdu language explored the hubs of Urdu and “Urdu-wallahs” outside the country. New York University’s Urdu language professor, Tahira Naqvi mentioned that in her undergraduate classes it is not only Pakistanis who come to study Urdu but Bangladeshi and Indian students come to learn it as well; Urdu is a language that connects all South Asians in the foreign land.

Another panel on Mughal Art included discussion and presentations by renowned artists Shazia Sikandar, Mehreen Chida-Razvi, and Zehra Jumabhoy. Moreover, the panel on Lahore was an engaging discussion of Lahore’s architectural tapestry between Nayyar Ali Dada, Tanvir Hasan, and Attiq-udin Ahmed. The one-day festival concluded with a Mehfil-e-Qawali performed by globally acclaimed artists Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad Qawwal. It was a soulful evening where attendees enjoyed the Sufi Kalam.

The festival was an opportunity for South Asians to revisit their shared past and common cultural denominators, while for non-South Asians, it was a chance to explore another side of the region. At the time when US-Pakistan relations are going through a difficult spell, events like LLF are a breath of fresh air, as they are not politically ridden and thus have potential to ease tensions at the level of community.

Published in Daily Times, May 17^th 2018.