Reviving debate
The Pak Tea House will herald a new era of public debate in Lahore and Pakistan.
The Pak Tea House has been renovated and reopened almost 10 years after it was closed down. PHOTO: ABID NAWAZ/EXPRESS
The Pak Tea House, located in the heart of Lahore, has reopened after almost 13 years. The atmospheric café was for decades known as a place where writers, poets, thinkers and others gathered to discuss various issues — over steaming cups of tea. Students, and even the waiters, participated.
Pak Tea House, established before Partition, reached its zenith in the 1960s, when the likes of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi and Munir Niazi gathered there regularly.
The historic café, opened before Partition on premises leased by Sirajuddin from the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), was closed nearly six decades later, in 2000, by his son Zahid Hussain, who converted it into a tyre shop.
Now, the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) has assumed control of the premises, with Hussain losing a court case challenging this.
The YMCA also stated the lease was valid only to run the Pak Tea House. The restaurant was inaugurated on March 8 by Mian Nawaz Sharif.
To what extent the revival will succeed is to be seen. Even before it was closed, intellectuals had to a considerable extent moved away; the old spirit had dissipated.
Debate has today, in Lahore, shifted partially to other venues, some set up to replicate Pak Tea House. It is then yet to be seen if the writers, thinkers and men of learning will return to the venue.
Such matters are hard to predict, though the presence of men like Intezar Hussain at the opening is encouraging.
The fact that this old haunt stands again is a good omen in many ways — it brings back a part of Lahore that had been lost.
In this respect, the initiative taken by the CDGL is also to be welcomed. The initial closure of the café in 2000 had brought protests.
But over time, the matter had been largely forgotten. We will now see how Pak Tea House shapes up in a new and different time and whether it can once more emerge as the centre of intellectual discussion in a city that has changed dramatically through the decades.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2013.
Pak Tea House, established before Partition, reached its zenith in the 1960s, when the likes of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi and Munir Niazi gathered there regularly.
The historic café, opened before Partition on premises leased by Sirajuddin from the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), was closed nearly six decades later, in 2000, by his son Zahid Hussain, who converted it into a tyre shop.
Now, the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) has assumed control of the premises, with Hussain losing a court case challenging this.
The YMCA also stated the lease was valid only to run the Pak Tea House. The restaurant was inaugurated on March 8 by Mian Nawaz Sharif.
To what extent the revival will succeed is to be seen. Even before it was closed, intellectuals had to a considerable extent moved away; the old spirit had dissipated.
Debate has today, in Lahore, shifted partially to other venues, some set up to replicate Pak Tea House. It is then yet to be seen if the writers, thinkers and men of learning will return to the venue.
Such matters are hard to predict, though the presence of men like Intezar Hussain at the opening is encouraging.
The fact that this old haunt stands again is a good omen in many ways — it brings back a part of Lahore that had been lost.
In this respect, the initiative taken by the CDGL is also to be welcomed. The initial closure of the café in 2000 had brought protests.
But over time, the matter had been largely forgotten. We will now see how Pak Tea House shapes up in a new and different time and whether it can once more emerge as the centre of intellectual discussion in a city that has changed dramatically through the decades.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2013.