Book on partition launched

LAHORE:‘The Lost Homestead: My Family, Partition and the Punjab’ by noted British lawyer Marina Wheeler was launched at the Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest Conversations online on Wednesday.

‘How did my mother and her generation come to terms with the Partition? By simply blocking it,’ noted Marina Wheeler in conversation with anthropologist Dr Mukulika Banerjee from the London School of Economics.

According to a press release issued here, describing her visit to Pakistan to research about her mother’s ancestral town of Sargodha, Wheeler, who is half Punjabi, noted that she knew little about Pakistan and Pakistani Punjab. ‘So much of the British impression of the creation of Pakistan is formed by the film Gandhi, but in my visit I found out that there was a lot more, and especially that Jinnah had to be properly understood,’ she remarked. ‘In many ways, the partition narrative on both sides of the Radcliffe Line exists in over simplification and opposition. The reality, of course, is much more complicated,’ said Wheeler.

Asked about the impetus for writing the book by Banerjee, Wheeler explained that then 70th anniversary of the partition and the independence of India and Pakistan sparked her interest in telling the story of her mother’s family. ‘This book is for a general audience, and its mix of the historical and the personal, will, I hope, enable people to understand the period better,’ explained Wheeler.

Paintings exhibition: In connection with International Literacy Day, Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education Department Punjab on Wednesday organised an exhibition of paintings made by young students of informal schools. According to a press release, children of literacy schools of 36 districts of Punjab participated in the painting competition. Adan Ali of Class IV from Sialkot bagged first position, Amina Zaman of Class V from Okara second position while Dua Fatima of Class V from Rajanpur secured third position. Cash prizes were given to the young artists of the first three positions. Sumaira Samad, Secretary Literacy and Non Formal Basic Education Department Punjab, said that the aim of the exhibition was to build self-confidence in children of informal schools.

Meanwhile, Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Bushra Mirza has said that education is the guarantor of uplifting of nations and the goal of literacy remains incomplete without promoting women's education.

In her message on International Literacy Day, the vice-chancellor said that the headship of Women's University was a challenge and ‘I am proud that Lahore College for Women's University was playing a significant role in women's education’.