aiz Festival 2025 concluded Sunday last at Alhamra, The Mall, marking three days of festivities around literary and artistic sessions and lots of musical and cultural activities on the side.

I have been attending the festival for as long as I can remember. However, this year it felt different. Maybe it was due to personally knowing some of the people on the panels or the ones launching their books; yes, that’s my brag for the week.

Being an academic and human rights researcher, I have to bear with a lot of panel discussions as a routine. But the Faiz Festival is unique. There is warmth in the air. People from far and near, from the worlds of literature, academia and art come together to rejoice as well as honour the great Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

The session, titled The Power of Satire, with Muhammad Hanif as the speaker set the tone of the festival for me. With his unabashed commentary on politics and journalism, Hanif made the crowds laugh and reflect — all at the same time.

Talking about his most celebrated book yet, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, Hanif related how it was a “readymade murder mystery plot,” one which he jokingly called his good luck and the nation’s bad.

When Omer Khan, who was moderating the session, posed a question with regard to journalism and the need for reporting facts, Hanif commented that journalism had become more fiction than fiction itself. His profound analysis of humour — or lack of it — is worth sharing. He remarked: “Powerlessness leads to people making jokes about those in power — this is our collective coping mechanism.”

His shift from speaking in English, to Punjabi was also what made the session feel like home to many Lahoris — at least those who still appreciate and speak the language.

The next session, beautifully conducted by Amina Ali, came as a surprise to me: Faiz Ka Lahore focused on the food scene of Lahore. The panelists included Kamran Lashari; Ali Rehman, a popular food critic; Karan Bali, a filmmaker from India; and Dr Arfa Sayeda Zehra. All gave insights into the city. With a reverberating “Oye!” in typical Lahori fashion, Lashari proudly claimed how Lahore does not let one age. Rehman suggested that instead of posh restaurants, we should explore the local eateries hidden in the winding streets of interior city, with their hundreds of years’ worth of legacy.

Since Valentine’s Day was being celebrated in many parts of the world only a day prior, it seemed apt that Dr Zehra spoke about her love affair with Lahore and how this city had historically been the guzargah (passageway) for people who’d leave a part of themselves behind every time they passed through it.

Bali shared his story of Lahore that took the audience back to their childhood. Bali is not from Lahore but his grandparents were — they owned the DN Bali & Sons photo studio on The Mall, he revealed.

Bali then went on to relate tales of the city that he had heard from his daadi who happened to be among the earliest qualified gynecologists in the region. Bali recalled how she’d proudly say, “Mein tay addhay Lahore nun janam ditta aye!” (I have given birth to half of Lahore).

Those of us in the audience, who remembered singing the nazm, Machli jal ki rani, in our childhood, were pleasantly surprised when Bali revealed that it was written by his daadi for her daughter Billo. It was published by Milap Press in 1944.

Beyond the halls and the Baithak, the gardens of Alhamra played host to Drum Circle with all its cathartic energy, the kilim stall set up by members of the Hazara community, the anda shami and chai, and cloth bags with Faiz’s poetry printed on them, courtesy of the National History Museum.

Among other notable sessions, the one on the role of journalism in improving relations in South Asia had journalist and filmmaker Beena Sarwar, columnist Zahid Hussain, and peace activist from across the border, Shiv Inder Singh on the panel. It was moderated by Munizae Jahangir.

Speaking on the occasion, Sarwar stressed the need for cross-border collaborations on issues pertaining to gender, human rights and climate change.

Talking with regard to objective journalism, the panelists agreed that the role of journalism in bridging the gap between the two nations was very important.

Rebellion through the written word is not a phenomenon unbeknown to South Asians. Faiz’s writings against dictatorial regimes and Manto’s expositions of how we treat women and the marginalised are immortal. To commemorate Saadat Hassan Manto, Indian filmmaker and actor Nandita Das had a conversation with Sarmad Khoosat. It made sense as both have films on Manto to their credit. While Sarmad remarked that Manto’s personality humanises history for us, Nandita added, “Manto is an idea, not just a person.”

Manto spent a significant part of his life in Lahore. This is where he became a father to three daughters, and this is where his final resting place is. However, one cannot help but feel how he was very much a Hindustani. His comment “Main chalta phirta Bombay hun” is a testament to that. Like many, perhaps, his heart was also torn between two places at the time of Partition.

Perhaps, the one session that got the most overwhelming response was on politics and social media, featuring Syed Muzammil who likes to call himself a contrarian.

Muzammil was greeted with thunderous claps from the audience as he stepped on stage. Uzma Rumi, called a “brave madam” by someone in the crowd, and Faisal Warraich, whose ambition to unlearn and then relearn history has generated enlightening discussions on social media, also got a warm welcome. Taimur Rehman moderated the panel.

The speakers shed light on the crisis that has emerged as a result of the social media boom leading to an exchange between members from the audience and panelists regarding evils of monopolisation of information, thought control and “algorithmic jails.”

Beyond the halls and the Baithak, the gardens of Alhamra played host to Drum Circle with all its cathartic energy, the kilim stall set up by members of the Hazara community, the anda shami and chai, cloth bags with Faiz’s poetry printed on them, courtesy of the National History Museum, and more.

Faaria Khan is a lecturer at LUMS and a human rights researcher. Her research interests lie at the intersection of education, gender and South Asian minorities