ThinkFest 2025 concludes with diverse perspectives

Academic, political luminaries discuss Pakistan's past, present and future

LAHORE:

The second day of the 8th Afkar-e-Taaza ThinkFest wrapped up at the Alhamra Halls on Mall Road, attracting large crowds eager to participate in thought-provoking discussions.

The final day of the literary festival featured a series of engaging sessions that ignited spirited debates among attendees of all ages.

The day commenced with a session titled "Can Muslims Be Enlightened," featuring Ayesha Jalal from Tufts University and Raza Rumi of Naya Daur Media.

The speakers explored the historical and ideological challenges faced by Muslim societies in navigating intellectual traditions and enlightenment.

Jalal discussed how British colonial rule reshaped faith in the Indian subcontinent, transforming it into a marker of division. She praised Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's Aligarh Movement for countering colonial narratives and highlighted Allama Iqbal's impact on intellectual progress, noting the need to recognize exceptional women in Muslim history.

Raza Rumi critiqued the misrepresentation of secularism as "ladeeniyat" in Urdu literature, emphasizing the revival of Islamic intellectual traditions like Ijtehad to address modern challenges.

In the session "World Builders: Technology and the New Geopolitics," former Portuguese minister Bruno Maçães and journalist Khurram Hussain discussed technology's transformative role in global power dynamics. Maçães emphasised the shift from controlling physical realms to artificial worlds, examining China's use of advanced technologies to challenge the global order without adopting Western values.

A session titled "Is the Two-State Solution the Real Problem in the Middle East?" featured Mahmood Mamdani of Columbia University and journalist Ejaz Haider, who highlighted the historical, political, and ideological roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict.