Daily Times

LAHORE: Braving the threats amid the recent string of terrorism in the country, a number or Lahoris visited the daylong Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) held at a local hotel on Saturday featuring internationally acclaimed literary figures.

The festival, which was originally supposed to be a three-day event, was reduced to a single day event citing security reasons, especially after the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) blast and the Gulberg blast hoax earlier in the week.

A large number of people from all walks of life, including students, teachers, scholars, writers, authors, publishers, politicians the daylong event, which featured dialogues and panel discussion addressed by local and international literary personalities.

Several international literary figures, including Monty Pathon, Micheal Palin, Margaret Mc Millan, Alex Von Tunzelmann, Katie Hickman, Pippa Virdee, Max RodenElke Falat, Julie Tieke, Teju Cole, Bethany Wratislaw, Molly Crabapple, Dwight Garner, Jeff Koehler , William Dalrymple, Simone Willie, Anita Anand participated at the LLF 2017.

While local personalities, including Nayyar Ali Dada, Salima Hashmi, Zehra Nigah, Ayesha Jalal, FS Aijazuddin, Arfa Sayeda Zehra, Samina Iqbal, Mohsin Hamid, Dr Syed Adeebul Hasan Rizvi, Muzammil Ruheel, Shabnam Ghosh, Sarmad Khoosat, Risham Syed, Nida Kermani, Hameed Haroon, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Kamila Shamsie spoke at the panel discussions.

At a session titled ‘Pakistan at 70’, renowned writer and author Ayesha Jalal said, “Jinnah wanted a have a totally different Pakistan than what we have today.” She said that democracy was the only solution to all problems facing Pakistan.

Talking about literature, she said that Pakistan has had made remarkable progress in literature, besides art and music. “Pakistanis should be proud of these productions of arts, literature and music,”
she said.

Shedding light on Manto’s works, she said Manto was more interested in consequences of partition, which was also shown in his writings, stories and novels.

However, two sessions, including ‘The Edhi Way Out’ and ‘Writings from the Arab Maelstrom’ were cancelled due to security reasons.

Talking to Daily Times, Mian Bilal, a university student, said that he was aware of the the threats facing Lahore but he still insisted his friends to attend the festival.

Zainab, another student, said that she was asked by her family and friends to stay away from gatherings and such events but she didn’t believe that restricting oneself at home could solve problems. “We need more such events which are basically a sigh of relief for the citizens who are facing severe depression after the tragic cylinder blast at DHA,” she added.

Shakeel, 65, said it was the government’s responsibility to provide security to the event. “This is not a right way that following a cylinder blast, the schedule of a peaceful event has been disturbed,” he added.