With peace having been restored to Lyari following the Rangers-led operation against warring gangs, a group of local social and literary activists have initiated efforts to organise the first Lyari Literature Festival to facilitate the process of peace promotion and social harmony through art and literature.
The two-day literary festival will be held in the premises of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University, Lyari, on September 21-22, and its preparations have been started.
The Mehrdar Art and Production, a Karachi-based film production company specialising in positive, socially- motivated content, is the event’s main organiser, but a number of other literary outfits, civil society and community-based groups have been collaborating in organising the festival in Lyari, a troubled neighbourhood that made it to the headlines for its gang warfare until the recent past.
Parveen Naz, the LLF’s project coordinator, said that the festival’s main purpose was to revive the glorious past of Lyari in their contribution to Balochi poetry, fiction and culture. She said that festival would feature cultural exhibitions, art corners, food corners and bookstalls, screening on short films and launches of books, literary gatherings reading corners and panel discussions.
“We have not finalised our sessions so far and holding meetings on a regular basis,” Naz told The News. She said that Lyari was the oldest town of the city where people from diferrent ethnicities, cultures and faiths lived for decades with peace and harmony.
“We will try to showcase art and culture of all inhabitants of the city’s ancient town that has been affected badly because of decades-long gang warfare and violence,” she said. She also said students from three varsities, including Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University, would also take part in a number of activities.
On Sunday, a meeting of the LLF’s advisory board was held at a local youth centre in Lyari’s Khadda area, where participants -- mainly peace activists, literary figures and community elders -- shared their opinions regarding topics and speakers of the session.
Prominent among them were Asad Iqbal Butt, Gulzar Ghicki, Fana Baloch, Sadia Baloch, Abid Mir, Waheed Noor, Abid Brohi, Abdul Shakoor Baloch, Hasil Murad, Ghazi Khan and Agha Adnan. “We will continue these meetings,” Naz said.
According to the LLF’s organisers, there will be sessions on the history of Karachi and Lyari, mother languages in Pakistan, politics of Lyari, unknown heroes, Lyari’s sports and the role of women in peace- building and literature. Also, there will be literary gatherings in various languages, especially Balochi. The festival will close with Lyari’s traditional Liwa-fire dance.