Aitzaz Ahsan says no minorities in a democracy, everyone has equal rights

LAHORE :The sessions at the Faiz International Festival 2017, like Faiz’s poetry, succeeded in providing a much needed candid discourse over various political narratives at war with each other in the country, the stunted progress of arts and literature while enchanting thousands with captivating performances.
Every single one of the 27 sessions on the concluding day of the festival were packed beyond capacity as the entertainment-starved Lahorites thronged the much-needed breath of fresh air provided by the event. There were hundreds who couldn’t even make it into the sessions and had to wait outside. The festival, however, had something for them too as live music renditions to Faiz and workshops continued outside the four halls.
The festival had something for everyone, from those politically inclined to the artsy, literature savvy, the glamour dazzled and those into performing arts. From the Kathak performance of Yasmeen Sheikh to the nostalgic rendezvous of events that shaped the country’s literature with the likes of Zahra Nigah, Asghar Nadeem Syed and Dr Arifa Syeda and the book launch session with the authors themselves.
The sitting hosted by Shamoon Hashmi with Aitzaz Ahsan, Asad Umar, Afrasiyab Khattak and Mujtaba Shuja was the session for current affairs enthusiasts. The guests talked about the country caught up between struggling progressive agenda and an alt-right narrative.
PTI’s Asad Umar was of the view that the current state of affairs at Faizabad and all such drags on the country’s progress find their roots with Zia-ul-Haq. He said it is not easy for any government, no matter how progressive and powerful to destroy that narrative completely because it has been intricately woven with religious beliefs of poorly-educated Pakistanis and they deem it an attack on their faith. He said the way forward was difficult and all mainstream political parties and the establishment would need to formulate an aggressive protocol to eliminate this narrative for good.
Aitzaz Ahsan said he does not believe in the word ‘minority’ in a democracy as it is demeaning and belittling. There are no minorities everyone has equal rights according to the Constitution of the country.
Afrasiyaab Khattak said this maybe the last chance for Pakistan to decide once and for all its cultural and social identity. With tongue-in-cheek, he said ‘We should play to our strengths, either we should accept the CPEC and adopt a progressive approach eliminating radicalism from our roots or we should accept that out best brand is alt-right and should start exporting that brand to other countries’.
Mahira Khan’s session was by far the biggest attraction for the millennials who had thronged the entrance to Alhamra Hall Two. It all was absolutely worth the wait and struggle to get in, as Mahira absolutely owned the session with her charm, frankness that gleamed of poise and class and reliability.
Talking about the vicissitudes she had had to face in recent past, she said it was one of those years where she had been dealing with a lot of negativity but the best thing is that she got through it and ‘Verna’ was released and the whole social media fiasco before that too died. “When Shoaib Mansoor emailed me regarding Verna, he wrote, ‘I gave you the first role of your life, and now I am offering you a role of a lifetime’, she said. Mahira said she was not at all scared of taking up this film, what she was scared of, however, was that she had not been through that excruciating experience so would she be able to do justice to the role. More importantly because the acting performance would most probably connect with a lot of silent victims and she didn’t want their agony to be underplayed. She talked about the powerful dialogues in the movie over a subject that has been such a huge taboo in the society.
She talked about how she chose Verna over other projects because as an actor she wanted to stretch herself beyond what she knew she was good at. ‘I don’t like branding cinema. If Verna does not entertain you or grips you or doesn’t affect you as an individual in any of these ways, then the film would have failed’, she said while answering a question if she would want to be associated with more entertaining movies or those on social issues.
I was very scared at the first promotion but the way the crowd chanted my name, it gave me such powerful positive energy that it took my fear away. The movie did change my perspective on certain things as an individual, she concluded. She hummed Faiz’s ‘Bol K Lubb Azaad Hein Tere’.
The session titled ‘What is to be done. The left in Pakistan’ was a total disaster. The selection of panellist was poor. Former pop-singer-turned Karl Marx-lover-turned political activist Jawad Ahmed seemed to have little understanding of the actual ideology of the left and kept contradicting himself over and over again while stating condescending remarks the audience and other guests. Ammar Ali Jaan, a young student leader, too had very little knowledge of what the session was about and seemed far from being well-read on the subject. The moderator Asim Sajjad was by far the most knowledgeable of the lot in addition to Abid Mir from Balochistan who was given very little time to speak.
The musical performances by Tanya Wells and Tina Sani were a total sold out and was a transcendent experience as the poetry of Faiz rode the subtle waves of music to the mastery of the celebrated voice of Tina Sani.