AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
Islamabad, May 03, 2013 (PPI-OT): European Union cosponsored the first Islamabad Literature Festival. Organized by Oxford University Press, the festival received tremendous public response with more than 15,000 participants attending 35 sessions and 70 leading literature and non-fiction English and Urdu writers interacting with them. Youth in huge numbers marked their appreciation for literary heritage of Pakistan.
The vibrant event was illuminated with lively debates on current issues. In his inaugural address, EU Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark paid rich tributes to Pakistan’s cultural and literary heritage. Ambassador Wigemark was of the view that literary festivals should be held in other cities of Pakistan as they expresses country’s diversity and its ability to have discourse on different issues.
Inaugural Address by EU Ambassador Mr Lars-Gunnar Wigemark
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentleman
Assalam-o-Alikum
After the resounding success of the Literature Festivals held in Karachi and Lahore, the European Union is proud to sponsor the First Islamabad Literature Festival, brought to you by an experienced and professional team that I am personally excited and honoured to be part of.
Literature festivals are important. They are important because they breathe fresh life into the art of storytelling. They are important because they bring together a vast number of viewpoints, both in conflict and in concord. And they are important because they promote by their very essence that most fragile and robust of ideals: a common space for free expression of ideas and opinions.
Such an exchange of views in an atmosphere free of fear and prejudice seems more important in today’s Pakistan than ever before.
As we celebrate the strength of democracy in Pakistan with the forthcoming elections on 11 May, there are those who try to silence the opinions they do not agree with – using brute force, muting their opponents with inhumane bombs and target killings.
One is reminded of your great poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s words:
“How much blood do you need
O land of mine
Before your pale face turns crimson
Like a glowing rose
How many sighs will quench your
Thirst
How many tears before your garden flowers?”
But history teaches us that those who try to extinguish their ideological enemies by using violence and intimidation will always fail in the end. In Europe it took centuries of bloody conflicts and wars before we realized this simply truth. And the European Union is today built on the fundamental notion of a peaceful coexistence of different ideas, nations and cultures.
Totalitarian ideologies controlling every person’s every act and thought will ultimately bring about their own demise. That is why the EU will always support the freedom of expression here in Pakistan.
Pakistan is a young country with an old culture. Your literary tradition runs deep and like all great cultures you have a love for poetry and your poets. Writers and poets capture the spirit of a nation, the essence of its people, in a way no political or other leaders ever can.
No two literary traditions are the same, for literature is a mirror of the culture that births it, a window into the soul of that place and that time. Out of the turbulent times Pakistan is currently undergoing, new great writers and poets will emerge, reflecting the prism of divergent and colourful ideas. Pakistan sits in the middle of cultural cross roads, where different civilizations and people have met and mingled during thousands of years.
I firmly believe the Pakistani society is, at heart, deeply pluralistic and divergent. You have too many languages, too many different ethnicities, and too many religions to ever succumb to the dogmas of a single thought or ideology. This immunity and diversity of spirits is a real strength and will remain a source of inspiration for future writers, musicians and poets.
Pakistanis love to discuss and debate. I can think of no other country where prime time television would be so filled with debate and talk shows at the expense of soap operas and other mindless entertainment.
This is a side of Pakistani that many outsiders are not aware of and literature festivals, such as this one in here in Islamabad, will also provide an opportunity to project Pakistan’s unique culture beyond its borders.
Pakistan’s literary tradition boasts of giants of the past like Manto and Faiz Ahmed Faiz, or famous names such as Ahmed Faraz, Ashfaq Ahmed, Bano Qudsia, Bapsi Sidhwa, Amjad Islam Amjad, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi and now the new generation of writers like Mohammed Hanif, Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie, Farhat Abbas, Noor ul Huda Shah, Fehmida Riaz, Farhat Abbas, Umaira Ahmed and many others; Pakistan has an unbroken line of literary and narrative prowess.
Despite a tragically low literacy rate, you have a deeply rooted love of storytelling, which transcends the written word. It is our joint responsibility to promote higher literacy, so that the legacy of literature is preserved and passed forward to the new Pakistani storytellers of tomorrow. Education for all is perhaps the greatest challenge facing Pakistan.
That is why the European Union supports public primary and secondary education in Pakistan. For the past 14 years we have supported the education sector with over 200 million euro, or nearly 30 billion rupees, and in the coming years we will continue doing so, in particular in Khyber Pakthunkwa and Sindh.
Together with our Member States, the EU is the largest donor to the education sector in Pakistan, covering all provinces and levels of education from public to private. The coming generation of young Pakistanis need to be nourished not just with basic skills but also with good literature.
I think we have all been struck by the large number of young people attending the recent literature festivals in Karachi and Lahore. Attending the festival in Karachi this year my wife and I were surprised by the great diversity of people, young and old, listening to the different panels and presentations. There is clearly a pent up demand for such events across the country.
These festivals are needed across Pakistan. In Faisalabad, in Peshawar, and in Quetta.
We should encourage and empower that great silent majority that believes in discourse, in moderation, in artistic expression, and in culture. Let us celebrate the diversity and depth of Pakistani society.
I wish you all an enjoyable two days of feasting at the table of literature.
Thank you for your attention.
For more information, contact:
Ms Ayesha Babar
Press and PR Officer
Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan
Phone: +92-51-227 182 8
Fax: 92-51- 282 260 4
Email: Ayesha.Babar@eeas.europa.eu