Daily Times

For Islooites, the sixth Islamabad Literature Festival (ILF), hosted by the Oxford University Press (OUP) from September 27-29, 2019 was a site for sore eyes.

It came amidst a year of dejection caused by bad news on multiple fronts. Tabdeeli was stumbling endlessly onto more of the same, Kashmiris were gagged in Occupied Kashmir precisely when they should have been ‘heard,’ in watan humaara ‘Aadha Kashmir’, another October earthquake robbed families of shelter when the grip of winter was tightening on their lives, video leaks of two judges of the accountability process spattered the credibility of accountability with bad poo stuff, stocks were relentlessly going down and Modi became a worse neighbour after winning another term in India.

The ILF stirred a dejected Islamabad and offered the community in our nation’s capital a welcome opportunity to unwind. It was an invigorating time for individuals and families. Literature itself did not feature very prominently at the festival in terms of focus.

Ishrat Hussain discussed economy and Shabbar Zaidi discussed taxation, politicians discussed Kashmir and feminists discussed Pakistani political women.

Anwar Maqsood, thankfully, was there with his memorable political satire. The outdoor book fair was of modest size, with only a few tables and bookshelves filled with a variety of books. People were really there to attend the seminars and other sessions, some of which were focused on book discussions or book launches and some just talks on the issues facing our time. The seminar on Kashmir, titled “Kashmir: The Valley Seized” gave people information, insights and some options for dealing with the issue. The most insightful sentence I ever heard on the Kashmir problem was spoken during the seminar by one of the attendees “India’s stance in Kashmir bears counter relevance to history. India’s stance is unsustainable because history cannot be altered.” Wow!

The view seems in accordance with the theme of the festival, titled ‘The Focus is Tomorrow: Reflecting on the Past.’ An organizer explained the theme in the following words. “It is about looking to the past for lessons on how we can build tomorrow.” Titles of many of the sessions reflected the theme. ‘1919: Jallianwala Bagh and the Century that Followed,’ ‘Pakistani Cinema: The Rise, the Fall, and the Rise again,’ ‘Book Discussion: Rethinking Pakistan: A 21st Century Perspective,’ ‘Challenging the Colonial Narrative in South Asian Historical Fiction,’ and ‘Reversing the Great Game: Pakistan’s Pivot.’

In one of the book launching ceremonies, titled ‘Pakistan: The Economy of an Elitist State,’ author Ishrat Husain described how a few people gained economic dominance early on after Pakistan was made and subsequently fostered policies that prevented new comers from getting in. It was left to PTI senior member Asad Umar to explain how Pakistan can be more inclusive in terms of economic opportunity, but Umar did not say very much other than the fact that we should do business in Urdu, not in English as it is an elitist language. He got applause.

Ishrat Hussain discussed economy and Shabbar Zaidi discussed taxation, politicians discussed Kashmir and feminists discussed Pakistani political women

Asad Umar’s stumble shows that even if we have a good understanding of the past, conceiving the future in the light of its lessons remains a great challenge.

The festival featured an art exhibit titled “Preserving the Paradigm.” It touched upon the theme of ‘the past and the future’ in perhaps the most interesting way. The art curator said the exhibit focused on how the past and the future could be merged, how traditional ideas that seem no longer viable could be revived with new developments. She held up an artwork to demonstrate this, depicting a futuristic scene in which a tower reaching above the clouds was slightly eclipsed by an individual in traditional West Asian dress who sat in front of it.

The festival ended with a musical performance by Salamat Ali, who enthralled a packed audience with popular ghazals. He ended the session with the inevitable and perennially popular crescendo “dama dam mast qalandar,” which drew some men on to the stage where they stag danced “musst” while enthralled spectators clapped rigorously.

The way Islooites clung to the festival until late hours of the evening, with smile on their faces and newly purchased books in their hands, proved the sixth ILF was a successful affair. Please do it again, OUP.

The writer is a freelance columnist and blogger. He can be reached at shahzebkhansaheb@gmail.com