Literary festival in full swing

Islamabad: The Islamabad Literary Festival is in full swing in the federal capital with speakers of the event remaining unanimous to say that it is serving as a revival of cultural activities after 15 years. On the second day of the festival, a panel discussion on 75 years of languages spoken in the country was held.

The panellists comprised of Dr. Abid Sial, Hafeez Khan, Dr. Sughra Sadaf, Dr. Wahid Bux Buzdar, Abasin Yousafzai, Dr. Muhammad Yousaf Khattak and senior journalist Saleem Safi. Saleem Safi spoke high of the contributions ex-chairman of the Capital Development Authority CDA Kamran Lashari for the promotion of culture and literary activities in Islamabad. However, he said with his departure, it seemed that cultural activities lost patronage. He observed that the appointment of Noorul Amin Mengal as CDA Chairman, it gives a feeling that cultural and literary activities are being revived.

The participants also highlighted the importance of women's participation in cultural and literary activities. Renowned poets like Iftikhar Arif, Khurshid Arif, Fuad Hasan Fuad, Nusrat Masood, Hasan Abbas Raza, Akhtar Raza Saleemi, and Hameeda Shaheen narrated their best of poetry at 'Mushaira' which was the highlight of activities of the day. Another Mushaira on humorous poetry and

theatre performance is amongst many events planned for the third and last day today (Sunday).