NEW YORK – The third edition of the annual Lahore Literary Festival returned to New York this Saturday, at the Asia Society.
The festival was a celebration of Pakistan’s cultural, intellectual, and artistic richness that brought together the South Asian community residing in New York. People were waiting anxiously for the event to start and the tickets for the event were sold in advance.
Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi appraised the founder of LLF, Razi Ahmad, for once again bringing Lahore to New York through creative voices that are emblematic of a vibrant society and a living nation. She further described the festival as “a safe space for dangerous ideas”, a place where discourses of a country’s problems are re-conceptualized and opinions are challenged.
Founder Razi Ahmed reminded that this year’s New York edition of LLF marks Pakistan’s 70 years of independence in a space where the country’s leading voices can directly reach the general public.
LLF is the representation of Pakistan’s diverse talent and its creative expression at an international platform, where fellow South Asians and all others get a chance to engage with Pakistan’s cultural and intellectual progression. South Asian Historian, Ayesha Jalal delivered the keynote address on Liberalism and ‘the Muslim Question’ through Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s understanding of Islam and modernity, by revisiting his work. Tribute was being paid to the legends of Pakistan and The panel also remembered the exceptional contributions and unmatched bravery of late Asma Jahangir whose legacy is the way forward for Pakistan.
A panel discussion between leading expert on Afghanistan and South Asia Barnett Rubin, author and Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University Kathy Gannon and Dawn columnist Zahid Hussain critically analyzed US-Pakistan relations in light of the ongoing havoc in Afghanistan, pointing out mistakes and losses.
The festival was an opportunity for South Asians to revisit their shared past and common cultural denominators, while for non-South Asians, it was a chance to explore another side of the region. .Such events unite the Pakistanis who are living away from their homeland.
