he two-day Asma Jahangir Conference 2022, which was held in Lahore last weekend, provided a much-needed platform to those seeking a community space where they could come together and share views with fellow thinkers, activists, dissenters and outcasts.

The forum allowed for an easy exchange of ideas and highlighted the need for debate and dialogue.

The audience was diverse; although it was dominated by the residents of Lahore, many had travelled from far-off places in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to be at the event. “We need more ‘festivals’ like this where an idea is not measured on the basis of your voice, pitch, tone, or words, but on the scale of its intellectual depth,” said Advocate Afnan Bacha, of Swat, talking to TNS on the sidelines of the event.

Bacha had come with his two lawyer colleagues.

“Swat again risks falling into the hands of the extremists,” he declared. “But this time the people are resisting them with rallies. The credit for this awakening goes to people like Asma Jahangir, IA Rehman, Bilawal Bhutto and Manzoor Pashteen.”

Living in peace is every citizen’s right. The state has a responsibility to take measures that establish peace in the region. A cursory look at the schedule of the conference established that the conference, whose theme was Crisis of Constitutionalism in South Asia, covered almost all the issues concerning peace and human rights. Two whole days of discussions sought to contextualise Pakistan in particular, and South Asia in general, on topics like environment, food security, constitutional rights, social media, forced disappearances, minorities, justice, disenfranchisement in Balochistan, parliament, Afghan women, employment, school curricula, communalism, transgender rights; media in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan; radicalism, population, matrimonial property rights in Pakistan; Taliban, political economy of land acquisition, uniform legislation for defining the age of a child; Kashmir, democracy, prisons and prisoners.

Though every topic and the ensuing discussion could be related to Lahore, land development and climate change were recurring themes. Two sessions in particular, were dedicated to Political Economy of Land Acquisition and Climate Change and Flooding in Pakistan.

Speaking at the conference, Dr Kaiser Bangali questioned the way the real estate sector had flourished unchecked. He said that data did not lie about a small number of families owning most of the country’s land. He also questioned the role of the government, saying that the government had first allowed the construction of squatter settlements (katchi abadis) and then torn those down in anti-encroachment drives.

The conference also discussed why land was acquired from the poor in order to further enrich the wealthy, and why the land acquired by the developers of posh localities was never meant for the purpose of building homes for the underprivileged. A mega housing project launched on 75,000 acres along the Ravi River was vehemently criticised for “waste of green acres” to develop a posh locality.

“The conference is supposed to give voice to the voiceless, and raise the concerns of the marginalised communities. Then why are Seraiki people not invited?” asked Irshad Amin, a Seraiki writer.

When green acres, which guarantee food security, another name for national security, are stolen, people, farmers, tenants and environmentalists look to the courts. Lahore High Court judge and a member of its green bench Shahid Kazim addressed these questions before an attentive audience in one of the morning sessions. He said he had authored a judgment in which the acquisition of green land for real estate purposes had been disallowed. The verdict was challenged before the Supreme Court. He said courts all over the world had taken up the cause of climate justice, and the Lahore High Court was doing its job. In the end, he presented the details of judgments which according to him had saved Lahore’s depleting underground water table and improved the air index.

Kazim noted that only judgments weren’t enough to replace a toxic environment with green life; their strict enforcement would make the difference. He said one way for this was to keep the litigation related to environmental issues pending, and passing orders to the Executive to implement climate-friendly steps before a case was concluded.

he audiences were receptive to critical ideas and most of the sessions went well, however, in several sessions there was a feeling of being rushed. As every session had an average of six panelists, the speakers were constantly asked not exceed the allotted time.

A moderator had to physically remove Simmi Baloch, when she would not leave the podium despite repeated requests. Her presentation was about the ordeals faced by the families of forcibly disappeared people.

“What’s the use of us travelling all the way from Quetta [to Lahore],” she spoke out, “if it has to be a mere 10-minute speech?”

Most sessions started late. A host of people in the audiences had questions for only certain panelists who are regulars at such conferences.

“The conference is supposed to give voice to the voiceless, and raise the concerns of the marginalised communities. So why are Seraiki people not invited?” asked Irshad Amin, a writer. “I am happy that the Kashmiris, the Baloch, Sindhis and Pashtuns have been given space at the event; but what about us [the Seraikis]?” he asked.

He ended his speech on the hopeful note that he expected Seraikis, Mohajirs, Hazaras, and Punjabis to share the stage in the future seminars.”

The otherwise well-attended conference was briefly interrupted by a crowd that started chanting slogans at the top of their voices during the speeches of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement leader Manzoor Pashteen and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

A cases was registered against one of the firebrands for targetting “national institutions.”

Also, rows allocated to the VVIPs seemed to defy the spirit of equality.

Such disappointments aside, more events like this are needed. Asma Jahangir was always willing to tread uncharted paths and dare to cross red lines, trample grey areas, and challenge fixed norms. The Asma Jahangir Conference is trying to keep her legacy alive.

The writer is a journalist based in Lahore