ZAB hanged for challenging national, international establishment: Aitzaz

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party central leader Aitzaz Ahsan has said Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born to be hanged for the “crimes” such as creating a Muslim Bloc and giving people the realisation of their power that challenged the national and international establishment.

He said this in a session “Meet the Author: Born to be Hanged” on the occasion of the fourth International Faiz Festival at Alhamra Arts Council on Saturday.

ZA Bhutto introduced reforms in the industrial sector. He nationalised the major sector and empowered the depressed segments of society, said Aitzaz Ahsan.

IA Rehman said Bhutto challenged the powerful corridors of the country and stood with the poor people of the country.

In another session as part of the festival, “Politics in Journalism” Marvi Sarmad said politics and journalism could not be done without ideology. Unfortunately, space for investigative journalism has ended in the country, she said. Anchorpersons should keep their political ideology away during their programme, said Wusatullah Khan. According to him, Zia era was better than this regime. Once a journalist was picked up by the state everyone knew about his whereabouts. Unfortunately, one knows about the whereabouts of journalist who picked up now, he said. He said “politicians cannot take U-turn if we see them in the light of Quaid-e-Azam’s point of view. We cannot differentiate between state and non-state actors. Noted journalists Hamid Mir said a journalist should save his skin now, and it would be his/her great success. Journalists should report and avoid becoming a report, he added.

Punjab Health Minister Yasmeen Rashid said, “We need to be focused on health and education in the country. We can defeat terrorism by promoting education.” She lamented that Pakistan fought the war of other in Afghanistan.

Afrasiyab Khan Khattak said that Talibanization was being promoted in the country. The freedom of the press has ended in the country. Politics is being controlled. Pakistan is facing challenges from international side and outside of the country, he said.

According to him, Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) locked the country and it leaders issued fatwas against the institutions of the country.

A session “Blurring the Boundaries: Imaging the Film” was moderated by Mira Hashmi. Salima Hashmi, Imran Abbasi, Prof Majid Saeed Khan presented their views.

“Meet Uncle Sargam: A Conversation with Farooq Qaiar” session was also held.

The other programmes at the festival on Saturday included debate competitions between schools, dance performance by Lahore Grammar School, discussion on Qawwali and sessions on theature, TV, film, beside the talk on Iqbal and Faiz.

The events, including an evening of poetry and piano, Lok Virsa, 70 years of Partition, book launch, Young Singers, exhibition of photographs of Faiz were also held.

People from different sections of life from across the country, including intellectuals, lawyers and students, participated in the festival.