The Sukkur edition of the two-day Pakistan Literature Festival (PLF) 2025 commenced on Tuesday, featuring motivating sessions on an array of socio-economic topics, recitation of poetry and a musical night.
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and provincial ministers Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Ziaul Hassan Lanjar and Nasir Hussain Shah besides senior political figures, Syed Khurshid Shah and Mushahid Hussain Syed attended the event.
Also in attendance were eminent writers, intellectuals, academicians and actors like Dr Syed Jafar Ahmed, Muhammad Ahmed Shah, Madad Ali Sindhi, Noor-ul-Huda Shah, Sultana Siddiqui, Asif Ahmed Shaikh, Dr. Tariq Rafi, Mustafa Qureshi and Munawar Saeed, among others. The festival was organised by the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi at the Football Ground of Sukkur IBA University.
The CM observed that organising literary festivals is a welcome step. He underlined that the sessions on arts, culture, economy, environment, technology, and other important topics play an enlightening role in the society. He appreciated efforts of the council's president Ahmed Shah for arranging such events.
"Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai gave women a high status in his poetry, something that even Shakespeare and other famous writers couldn't," noted the Culture and Tourism Minister Zulfiqar Ali Shah. The educationist Dr Syed Jafar Ahmed spoke about significance of engaging youth in cultural and creative activities.
Juxtaposing the statistics of the primary and higher education, Ahmed said while more and more universities are opening up in the province, the heightening figures of the out of school students has become a cause of concern. The playwright Noor-ul-Huda Shah, as she referred to the youth, said they are the true heirs of the land called Sindh, asking them to recognise and develop affinity with their culture.
"Education and degrees mean nothing if women aren't given their due respect and rights," she underscored. She believed that the issues confronting Sindh are not limited to its share of water from the Indus River but the direction in which the province's youth is heading is more worrisome. "Sindh must be freed from the control of feudal lords and religious leaders. The feudal and spiritual leadership system has ruined Sindh."
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