Thousands attend Lahore Literary Festival

Lahore: A two-day Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) kicked off at Alhamra, The Mall, on Saturday. On the first day of the festival, thousands of people thronged Alhmara and attended the sessions of their interest. Some famous international personalities and literary bigwigs from Pakistan participated in it.

The session MC Activist was started in the morning. Emmy Award-winning British actor Riz Ahmed and Mohsin Hamid participated in the event and Shahid Zahid played the role of moderator on the occasion. They talked about activism and highlighted the importance of activism in society. In another session, “Munoo Bhai Ki Yaad Mein Jangal Udas Hain” , I A Rehman and Kishawar Naheed discussed the memories of Munoo Bhai. They paid tributes to him. Ashgar Nadeem was the moderator of the session. He also shared his experiences with Munoo Bhai. According to them, Munoo Bhai believed in activism. He was a powerful voice of the voiceless, they said about Munoo Bhai. According to I A Rehman, Munoo Bhai was a brave journalist as well as a playwright. His undaunted personality and witty nature made him popular among his colleagues, said Rehman. Munoo Bhai was not only a journalist but also a trade unionist. He started his career as a reporter from a Urdu newspaper. He also worked as a chief reporter. He earned a name/fame as a columnist. He did not compromise anywhere in his life, shared Rehman. Ashar Masood said that Munoo Bhai started writing his column, Graiban, from Multan. His real name was Muneer Ahmad. He had humanitarian instincts, said Ashar Masood. Kishwar Naheed and Asghar Nadeem Syed said Munoo Bhai wrote many plays like Jaloos, Tamans and Sona Chandi, etc. He hated violence and he loved humans and animals, they said.

Another session “Aurang Zeb Alamgir, Man and King” was held. Audrey Truschke and F.S Aijazuddin discussed the era of Aurang Zeb Alamgir. On the occasion “The New Pakistani Middle Class” book was launched. Ammara Masood and Arif Hassan threw light on the class system in the county. They discussed the role of the middle class in Pakistan.

In another session “The Multiple Lives of Shaoib Hashmi” was discussed by Salman Shahid and Nadia Jamal. Adeel Hashmi was moderator of the session. Shoaib Hashmi was not only a great playwright and actor but also a great teacher, the said. They shared how they learned from his personality while working with him. He was also a professor at Government College, Lahore, they said.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz was also discussed in the festival as usual. Iftikhar Arif, Zafar Poshni and Kishwar Naheed participated in the session “Faiz, Humari Yaadain.” Asher Masood was moderator on the occasion. "Faiz was a great poet and revolutionary person and he was also imprisoned his revolutionary thoughts," his friends of jail time discussed about his ideology. Faiz was selfless, they said. Faiz was a leftist and was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.

Other sessions, including Istanbul: Magnificent through the Ages; Expressions of Contemporary China; Heer Waris Shah and Ajoka Waseeb; Reframing the Picture of Asian Art; Myth, Realities, Politics and Imagination: Post-Conflict Sri Lanka and Women Writings, and Art and Human Condition were also held.