Peshawar Literature Festival: Women empowerment, other issues discussed on 2nd day

PESHAWAR: As many as 15 sessions on different topics were arranged on Wednesday on the second day of the first edition of the Peshawar Literature Festival.

A statement issued here said several participants took part in the session, where speakers discussed women empowerment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, dimensions of ethnic politics in the country, opportunities and challenges of the literary industry in the province, and current situation of Afghanistan as well as the Pakistani fiction among others.

The festival hosted an English poetry recital. A discussion took place among the poets, which was moderated by the Spogmai Khattak.

Sahibzada Riaz Noor, Riaz Hussain, Samra Fakhar, Saira Babar and Noman Bin Saleem took part in the discussion. The poets discussed the impact of violence on poetry among other issues.

Sahibzada Riaz Noor in response to a question said the title of his collection “Dragonfly” and other poems derived inspiration from the drone warfare in the region during the war on terror.

He said that Waziristan locals used to equate drones with dragonflies due to their whizzing sound, from which his collection drew its name.

The poets debated the cathartic value of the poetry as well as the challenges and other issues of the writing in another language as well as their own perception of the Pashto poetry.

The statement said authors including Dr Fazal Rahim Marwat of “Khushal Khan Khattak, the Pioneer of Afghan Nationalism” and Ihsan Dawar of “Waziristan Ka Saqafati Virsa” were also disused. In addition to this Zafarullah Parwaz, author of the first Khowar novel “Angristanu” spoke about his book in a session which was moderated by Fakhar Alam. Dr Aamer Raza moderated the session on current perspectives on Afghanistan where Dr Irfan Ashraf and Dr Khurshid Khan were the panellists.

Syed Hanif Rasool and Dr Samiuddin Arman discussed Pakistani fiction in Pakistan.

Dr Darwaish Afridi moderated the session on “Class or Ethnicity? A Question of Political Relevance in Pakistan”. It was attended by Afrasiab Khattak and Dr Aasim Sajjad Akhtar and several students.

Dr Noreen Naseer moderated the session on Empowering Women in KP. Ombudsperson KP for Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Rukhshanda Naz and former Member National Assembly Bushra Gohar were there. Kayenat Hameed Khan moderated a session on the “Challenges and Opportunities of the Literary Industry in KP” while Dr Uzma Dayan moderated a session on the education of out-of-school children.

Dr Altaf Qadir moderated a session on the “Political Economy of Education” with Professor Ghulam Qasim Marwat.

In addition, Urdu and English handwriting competitions were arranged for school children and students from several schools took part in the competition. An Urdu debate competition will take place on the last day of the event on Thursday.

The first edition of PLF has been organized by the Institute of Education and Research, Community Service Programme and the Department of History of the University of Peshawar in collaboration with the Dosti Welfare Organization.

Up to 15 sessions are planned on the concluding day of the festival (today).