Faisalabad Literary Festival concludes with inspiring sessions, literary discourse

FAISALABAD: The 10th Faisalabad Literary Festival (FLF) concluded on Saturday.Over the two-day event, distinguished writers, poets, artists, journalists and dignitaries from across the country shared their insights on various literary topics including poetry, history, FLF 2023 was organised by the collaboration of the Lyallpur Literary Council and a private entrepreneur. Total eleven sessions held on Saturday that included: Shaukat Siddiqui’s centenary celebrations; Punjab De Do Maharaje; launching of “Anjam Bakhair, Makhotta, Rozen-e-Tishkeek, and Khushboo Ke Diwar kay Pehchay”; “Sudoziyaan ke drechich sai; Hawa Bhi Sans Laeti Hai. Mian Raza Rabbani’s talks with Haris Khaliqon his novel The Smile Snatchers; Saraas karain apanay khaboon sai urr kir ja chukay hain; discussions on Punjabi Likhtan De Ajoke Roop; Ameed ki Kiran ya Lamah-e-Fikria with debate by Mussadaq Zulqarnain, Ali Khizr, and Dr. Khurram Tariq on the economy of Pakistan; Rasool Bakhsh Rais, Hamid Mir, Wajahat Masood, Areba Shahid and Haris Khaliq views sharing Social Media Change of Journalism.

In the 11th and final session, Behrooz Sabzwari, Zafar Meraj, Sarmad Khost, B Gul, and Sheba Alam discussed TV drama and new possibilities.

Earlier on first day at inaugural ceremony, Musadaq Zulqarnain, Chairman of Lyallpur Literary Council. said that Faisalabad Literary Festival become an important reference for the literary identity of Faisalabad at the national level that fosters a culture of civilized dialogue and polite disagreement. He said that Faisalabad Literary Festival 2023 has been named after children, birds and future dreams which are symbols of hope.

Well-known folklorist Aksi Mufti said that today’s era is the era of social change. In these situations, social activism is necessary to turn the tide. He said that earlier 70 languages were spoken in Pakistan and now 50 languages are left.

He said that due to the loss of local languages, local knowledge, music, musical instruments, cousin and many skills have also been lost.He said that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan did what our embassies in 70 countries could not do for Pakistan. He said that today’s fiction writer is either alienated from himself or afraid. Today we again need a Manto who can shake this sleeping nation. Renowned Sindhi poet and author Noor Ul Huda Shah said that Pakistan is a country where identity and culture have been strangled. Many nations were living here peacefully for thousands of years but today their identity is in question and the country has been given an artificial identity which has led to a huge human tragedy. Our founder stood up in Bengal and said that Bengali would not be the national language, the names of roads and areas in Sindh were changed and the people living there were forced to migrate. Religion was used to change the identity of local people and people were used in the name of sin and reward. Wherever religion has been used for this purpose in the world, there has been destruction.

During the reign of Ziaul Haq, art and artists were banned in the name of religion and the writers of that time stood in Zia’s court with folded hands.

She said that the situation in Palestine highlights how important identity.Writer Asghar Nadeem Syed said that today’s writer is facing competition from artificial intelligence and today you can write in the style of any famous writer with the help of artificial intelligence. Sara Hayat, the Vice Chairman of Lyallpur Literary Council said that ten years ago when the Faisalabad Literary Festival was being started, she was worried that people would not come and Asghar Nadeem Syed said that if forty to fifty people who understand literature come, our goal will be fulfilled, but in the last ten years, thousands of people have participated in this festival and made it a success.

Later, four books were launched in the first session, including Tahira Iqbal’s book Harappa, Nasir Abbas Nair’s book Nai Naqad Kay Naam Khtoot, Asghar Nadeem’s Jahanabad Ki Gulyan and Osama Siddique’s Gurob-e-Shehr Ka Wakat.