Promoting dialogue: Benazir Literary Festival kicks off

Event will feature talks on literature, politics, history, art, musical performances and theatre plays.

LAHORE: A tangible noose is tightening around liberal voices in Pakistan that will only provide more room for intolerance to grow, said Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday.

“There is an urgent need to give humanity a priority in Pakistan as tolerance is the foundation of our culture where ideas are debated in harmony and differences are celebrated,” the Pakistan Peoples’ Party chairman said while speaking at the inaugural session of the first Benazir Literary Festival (BLF) that kicked off at the Alhamra Arts Centre.

The three-day event organised by the Benazir Literary Society will host talks on literature, politics, history, art, musical performances and theatre plays.

“Culture is in Lahore’s arteries and the city boasts a history without which Pakistan will not exist,” Bilawal said. “It is truly humbling that this city has chosen to honour my mother like this.”

He continued: “Legends like Allama Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Habib Jalib, Intezar Hussain and Prof Abdus Salaam have passed through its streets. This is the city of thinkers and revolution of Manto, Iqbal Bano and Ismat Chugtai started from here.



“One of the main reasons I’m here is because of the indisputable link between literature and politics. Literature like politics is born out of passion, observation and an insight into society with opinions,” he added.

The PPP leader said Lahore had served as a looking glass for Pakistan’s brave and honest and showing who and what we truly are. “Artists and politicians want to change the world, the canvas may be different but the goal is similar for instance to inspire and show the way,” he added.

“Great politicians cannot remain silent on the sufferings of people. We are a nation which was made to remain silent time and again. We must look towards those who stood up and spoke when no one else did,” he said.

The Benazir Literary Society is collaboration among writers, intellectuals, artists, and young workers of the PPP. It aims to provide a platform for meaningful dialogue between politicians and the intelligentsia.

In his welcome note, PPP activist and organising committee member Zohaib Butt said that up until the 70s, writers, artists and intellectuals were not only part of the political process but they also had a clear political view and vision.

During the past 40 years, he added, several steps were taken to strategically eliminate the intelligentsia from the political process. Some signs that read “Political discussion is not allowed,” were put up in public spaces and Section 144 was used to discourage public gatherings and dialogue.

“Today, politics has become a taboo among the intelligentsia and the BLF is an attempt to bridge this gap between politics, arts, literature and culture, with the hope to re-start the dialogue that was hushed decades ago,” he said.

“The recent lynching of Mashal Khan shows our society has reached up the highest level of intolerance and impatience and the only way to counter this extremist narrative is dialogue,” Zohaib believed.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2017.