Lyari is an integral part of Karachi, with a diverse group of people residing in the area, but the place is usually associated with stories of violence and extremism owing to its dark history. However, recent years have seen tremendous growth not only in terms of promoting peace but also making it a safe space for locals. Some key elements that are currently being worked upon include promoting education, arts and culture, while finding ways to counter extremism.
The most recent effort in this direction was the recently concluded first edition of Lyari Literature Festival (LLF) that took place last weekend (Sep. 21 - 22) from morning till evening at Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University in Lyari. It was purposely scheduled on International Day of Peace 2019, that is, September 21, given the theme of the festival: “To promote peaceful, safe universities and social harmony through literature, art and culture,” according to Sadia Baloch, Program Manager of the LLF at Mehrdar Art & Production (MAP). MAP is a Karachi-based production house that specializes in positive reassurance and socially motivated content.
Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University Lyari (BBSUL) that was founded in 2010 is the only university in the vicinity and allows enrolment of students residing there. It lent complete support in bringing LLF 2019 to life; a diverse group of students from BBSUL worked tirelessly with young volunteers from across the city to make this event a success. Reflecting on the initiative, vice-chancellor Dr. Akhter Baloch said that he believes in the role of universities in not only creating academic learning environment but also bridging academies and society. Despite the scorching heat, about 5000 people showed up on the opening day while the number doubled the second day. Over 90 speakers addressed attendees during the two-day festival that highlighted cultural diversity of Pakistan through multiple discussions, artworks, music, dances and several other activities. Prominent personalities such as Taj Haider from PPP, journalist Wusatullah Khan, human right activist I A Rehman, Asif Farukhi, Faisal Edhi, and many others turned up at the event to show their support.
Day one featured the performance of Gujrati community dance group, Rasrdy, after the inauguration ceremony, while it was followed by a training session for young people. A total of 32 panel discussions including ‘Role of Contemporary Children Literature in Character Building,’ ‘Women’s Contribution in Creating Peaceful Society,’ ‘Displacement of Minorities,’ ‘Education in Lyari,’ and others were a major highlight of the two-day event.
Other activities included a separate space for special children, Urdu mushaira, qawali, art exhibitions, dance acts as well as live performances featuring music groups Darvesh, Hamza Akram Qawwal and Brothers, and Sounds of Kolachi who closed the festival. The festival also had screenings of documentaries including Jawad Sharif’s Indus Blues, boxing matches for girls and boys and a storytelling workshop.
Coordinator LLF Parveen Naz shared in a statement that the real essence of the idea was to provide a platform where people of Karachi can come together and exchange ideas, enjoying their history and the real face of Lyari.
We got in touch with members of the core team behind the first Lyari Literature Festival to find out about their experience as well as challenges (if any) they faced while executing it.
Fahim Shad, Founder and CEO Mehrdar Art & Production, shared in an exclusive conversation with Instep, “One major aim behind the festival was to eradicate religious syndicate and promote a positive narrative through the literary society created at the university. The reason behind having university students onboard to organize the event was to encourage them to arrange peace events in the future.”
“Instead of introducing something new, we wanted to revive something – like the culture of reading and promoting arts – which the people of Lyari had been missing out on due to some unfavourable reasons,” he added. “We are overwhelmed with the response and we have urged the government to cooperate with us for future editions of the festival as we don’t want to stop here.”
Reflecting on what paved the way for the first Lyari Literature Festival, Zohair Allibhoy, Program Lead Mehrdar Art & Production, told Instep, “With the idea of having “safe universities”, we wanted to bring back activities that residents of Lyari are fond of but were unable to keep up with due to external influences/ agendas and violence. Lyari is very diverse culturally and since literature is a key element in shaping cultures and societies, we thought it would be a great way to inculcate literary thinking. The idea was also to create opportunities for those residing in Lyari, showing them a way and letting them express themselves; they aren’t violent, it’s just that a few bad episodes affected the entire community.”
Speaking of the challenges, Zohair added, “Mehrdar Art & Production started off from Lyari so for us it wasn’t a hassle to arrange an event in the vicinity.
The acceptability was huge and people were willing to promote a positive image by participating in these constructive activities. This shows that they do want to peace, security and safe academic institutions.”
However, Zohair admitted that crowd management could have been better had they known the turnout will be massive. Aside from broadening the scope and reach of the program the next time, the team at Mehrdar Art & Production wishes to be able to accommodate more people, who can participate and take good things back home. They apologize to those who they couldn’t let in this time due to security reasons.