Faiz festival begins today

LAHORE
Punjab Governor Malik Rafique Rajwana will inaugurate the first Faiz international festival at Alhamra Arts Council, The Mall on Thursday (today).
The first and the much awaited mega event has been organised by the Faiz Foundation Trust in collaboration with Lahore Arts Council and a local hotel from 19 to 22 November.
The festival will include 30 literary/political sessions, five book launches, a Mushaira, four theatre performances, two dance performances, orchestral readings, theatre and puppetry workshops, and activities for children with Uncle Surgam being a part of those activities.
Besides the performing arts and music, there will be three keynote speakers of the festival which include the famous British Pakistani writer, journalist, filmmaker and intellectual Tariq Ali, eminent Indian Urdu critic, poet and theorist Shams-ur-Rehman Faruqi, and the distinguished Urdu scholar from Russia Dr Ludmila Vasilyeva.
The most spectacular event of the this four days long festival will be the performance of world renowned Indian superstar Naseeruddin Shah as ‘Einstein’, and a performance by Indian singer Sonam Kalra, who is famous for her Sufi Kalam recitations and Faiz’s poetry. Besides the Indian shining stars, highly acknowledged Pakistani singers and artists like Tahira Syed, Tina Sani, Ali Sethi, Adeel Hashmi, secretary and the treasurer of Faiz Foundation Trust, and Asad Aness will enthrall the spectators of the shows.
A special play by Ajoka Theatre based on the letters of Faiz and Alys Faiz, two Punjabi plays by Najm Hosain Syed (Directed by Huma Safdar), and orchestral readings , a puppetry workshop by Farooq Qaisar (Uncle Sargum), a children session by CLF and a theatre workshop by Pehlaaj.
There will be a galaxy of eminent Indian writers, poets, filmmakers and TV anchors also landing in Lahore for this mega event. The Indian delegation includes filmmaker poet, and artist Muzaffar Ali, film writer and actor Atul Tiwari, TV Anchor Vinod Kumar Dua, Film director Shilpi Gulati, and writers Annie Zaidi, Dr Rakhshanda Jalil, Dr Baran Farooqi, Dr Mehr Farooqi, Dipa Singh Bagai, Anirudha Bhattacahjee, and Pragya Tiwari. Well known Canadian Pakistani authors Dr Ashfaq Hussain and Dr Taqi Abedi will also participate in this grand festival. Besides the renowned Indian and Pakistani personalities living abroad from various of life, world renowned Pakistanis including Intizzar Hussain, Zehra Nigah, Zia Mohyeddin, Mustansar Hussain Tarar, Mohsin Hamid, Dr Asghar Nadeem Syed, Dr Asif Farrukhi, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Salima Hashmi, Yasmin Hameed, Arshad Mehmud, Irfan Khoost, Sarmad Khoosat, Nadia Jamil, Navid Shahzad, Afzal Ahmad Syed, Ikramullah, Nasim Zehra, Baela jamil, Quddus Mirza, Moneeza Hashmi, Dr Arfa Syeda Zehra, Ajmal Kamal, Mira Hashmi and last but not the least, Mazhar Jameel.
Luminaries from the field of politics and human rights will also grace the occasion with their presence and these include Chairman Senate of Pakistan Raza Rabbani, Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and Senator Aitzaz Ahsan. Other high profile luminaries include IA Rehman, Abid Hassan Minto, Asma Jahangir, Mehtab Rashid, Bushra Gohar, Dr Fouzia Saeed, Khawar Mumtaz, Shafqat Mahmood, and Dr Aasim Sajjad Akhtar.
By and large, this mega happening, a blessing in disguise for all the art and peace loving people in general and the Faiz lovers in particular, will also prove to be a harbinger of fresh air in the otherwise stagnant and scary atmosphere prevailed in our beloved country due to the well known reasons. Faiz loved peace and Pakistan and was a man of all times and was a man of all seasons.