LAHORE: The three-day Faiz International Festival opened at the Alhamra Art Center, The Mall, on Friday.

The venue was adorned with buntings and colourful flexes bearing festival’s schedule and Faiz’s poetry. People from all age groups, especially youngsters, enjoyed being part of the opening activities.

Lahore Arts Council (LAC) Board of Governors Chairman Kamran Lashari inaugurated the festival at Alhamra Hall 2.

Faiz Foundation Trust chairperson Salima Hashmi in her welcome address thanked the Lahore Arts Council for its generous support in holding the festival.

Ms Hashmi said Faiz Ahmed Faiz had a firm belief in the fact that cultural development and growth was the fountain of progress in other segments of life. She said a new hall had been built at Faiz Ghar to extend the scope of cultural activities there.

She said the Faiz Foundation Trust would soon initiate its endowment fund and Faiz Ghar would be made more spacious and the poet’s belongings would be digitalised.

She fondly remembered photojournalist Azhar Jafri who passed away a day earlier (Thursday).

“I am missing Azhar Jafri on the festival,” she said as she got teary-eyed.

Mr Lashari said he felt honoured to attend the festival.

“It’s a great festival and people love Faiz. More such events should be held as the overall cultural situation needs drastic improvement. Most TV channels prefer crime and political reporting and culture is hardly given the space it deserves,” he said.

He criticised the government for ending festivals and places such as Basant, international sport events and Gowalmandi’s food street.

EXHIBITION: Earlier, an exhibition of paintings and photographs titled ‘Naya Daur’ opened at the Alhamra Art Gallery.

The exhibition was part of the festival and jointly inaugurated by Lahore Arts Council Executive Director retired Capt Atta Muhammad Khan and Salima Hashmi.

The exhibition featured the works of the artists from the Lahore Arts Circle. They were Shakir Ali, Syed Ali Imam, Anwar Jalal Shamza, Razia Feroz, Mariyam Shah, Sheikh Safdar Ali and Moyene Najmi.

PLAY: Also part of the festival was Ajoka Theatre’s play “Anhi Maai da Sufna” (A Blind Old Woman’s Dream) which the audience appreciated.

Written by Shahid Nadeem, the play is inspired by some true stories and shattered dreams of the generation displaced during the Partition. Deeply rooted in folk values and traditions of the land, it gave a perspective to understand the pain and suffering of a whole generation which lost treasures at the time of the Partition. It also portrayed the universal message of peace, love, harmony and tolerance.

Published in Dawn November 19th, 2016