LAHORE: The third International Conference on South Asian Literary Traditions commenced in the Sayeed Saigol Auditorium of the Lahore School of Management Sciences (Lums) on Friday.

The two-day conference, a yearly feature at the university, has been organised by its Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature. It is aimed at providing a platform for exchanging ideas on varying aspects of literary traditions and multi-linguistic culture of South Asia.

The tri-lingual conference features delegates from Pakistan and abroad for delivering speeches in English, Urdu and Punjabi. Foreign delegates are expected from Sweden, Hungary, the US and India. Local delegates belong to Karachi, Hyderabad, Bahawalpur and Faisalabad as well as Lahore. The research papers that will be read out during the conference would be later published as a book.

The inaugural session featured speakers Dr Heinz Werner Wessler from Sweden who delivered the keynote address and Lums Vice Chancellor Suhail Naqvi delivered the presidential address. Wessler is a professor of Indology with focus on modern South Asian languages and cultures. The title of his keynote address was ‘The Secular and the Religious: Patterns in Modern South Asian Literature seen from a Firangi Perspective’.

Delivering the address, Wessler (who had a good command on Urdu besides English) said his presentation was a kind of workshop report from a project concerning the interrelation between religion and modern literature in India. He said a critical attitude towards religion became a common feature in modern Indian writing in regional languages, particularly from 1920 onwards.

He said with the rise of progressivism in the 1930s, statements on cultural and religious decline often turned into criticism of religious institutions and religion in general, which were portrayed as the core corruption and human disregard in society.

Naqvi criticised the present condition of the country and deplored there were restrictions on thought process and speaking one’s mind on controversial issues. He said amidst such suffocation one could look up to poetry and literature for respite. He congratulated the conference organisers for providing the literati with an opportunity to exchange ideas on literature.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2015

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