The Faiz International Festival, despite repetition of some topics and panelists, has become a brand since its first edition three years back when few people turned up at Alhamra Art Centre on The Mall. The crowds on Saturday and Sunday especially in the afternoon and afterwards manifested its popularity among the Lahorites. There were sessions in the halls 1 and 2 which were packed to capacity and the organisers had to shut the doors to the disappointment of many. It’s understandable when the showbiz stars are the main attraction, but it’s surprising if performance of relatively less known British-born singer Tanya Wells or a debate on politics and current affairs also get the jam-packed sessions.

One such session, Bahaar Kay Imkaan, had Aitzaz Ahsan, Afrasiab Khattak, Asad Umar, Dr Asim Sajjad Akhtar and Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman were panelists. The moderator, Shamoon Hashmi, started with an indirect question on the bill recently passed by the parliament through which anybody could challenge faith of any Muslim voter who would have to sign a declaration to prove his faith within 15 days to ‘remain Muslim’. Aitzaz Ahsan of the PPP said he had raised an objection to the bill as it would open the Pandora’s box for all in Pakistan. “But there was moral pressure from the PML-N government which said that its two members’ lives were in danger due to the ‘issue’ and the matter of the sit-in at Faizabad would also be resolved if we (the Senate) passed this bill.”

Ahsan wondered why the government insisted on passing the bill which was not even a demand of the Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan that’s holding a sit-in in Islamabad.

Afrasiab Khattak of the ANP said religion was being used as a tool in politics since the regime of Gen Zia. He said only certain matters had been presented as “national issues” and nobody was willing to discuss the Balochistan or FATA where another operation had started and thousands of families had been driven out of their homes, “But nobody talks about these issues even in the media”. There was trade worth Rs2.5 billion with Afghanistan until 2011, but now it had been reduced to just a few hundred millions, affecting numerous people involved in the business. He criticised what he termed the ‘judicialisation’ of politics in Pakistan and said Yusuf Raza Gilani was removed from premiership through the judiciary and the PML-N celebrated it but now its own PM faced the same situation.

Talking about the ongoing sit-in in Islamabad, Punjab Minister for Higher Education and Youth Affairs Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman said the government was not shying away from confronting the extremist elements, but being a democratic government it was trying to resolve the issue “amicably”.

Asad Umar of the PTI said politics of ideology ended after the non-party election in 1985. “One’s relationship with the faith should not be cut off but everybody should have the right to talk about his/her faith.” He said Gen Zia had been used as an excuse for too long, adding that the country needed a political reformer more than a political leader.

Asim Sajjad Akhtar of the Awami Workers’ Party (AWP) retaliated by saying that Ziaul Haq had also presented himself as a social reformer and added the people should decide once and for all whether they wanted to live in Zia’s Pakistan or in a better setup.

PATRIARCHAL DEMOCRACY: In a session on the topic, Is Pakistan’s Democracy Patriarchal?, human rights defender and veteran journalist I.A. Rehman said we as society are not democratic as democracy demanded equality for everybody but this Pakistani society was plagued with inequality on basis of religion and class. “Pakistani women had achieved a lot individually but there is no role of the state in their achievements,” he bemoaned, however, adding that he could see the change coming in society which was more evident in Punjab.

“Women in rural areas are mostly engaged in work. But the question is whether they can make their own decisions, and the answer is in the negative.”

Mr Rehman said the condition of women in India and Pakistan was very much similar.

“Religious scholars (in Pakistan) oppose women rights. They don’t oppose other matters like farmers’ rights and labour movements but they always opposed women rights.”

Fauzia Viqar, chairperson of Punjab Commission on Status of Women, lamented that religion was being used wrongly against women.

“Whatever the Council of Islamic Ideology did during the last five years was aimed at controlling women and that included (justifying) wife beating, underage marriages or opposing use of scientific methods as evidence in rape cases.”

There were confined spaces for women in society and whenever a woman crossed that line, she put herself in danger, Ms Viqar said and added that even in the parliament, the role and space of women was defined like she had to dress in a certain way.

Giving her views, MNA Attiya Innayatullah said patriarchal democracy was a universal phenomenon and there were very few countries which had different conditions.

“We have cultural norms which marginalise women and discriminate against them as is evident in honour killing cases. We have anti-women religious democracy that’s why we have not achieved what we should have,” she added.

CRIMSON PAPERS: Talking about poet Harris Khalique’s book, Crimson Papers, Salima Hashmi said the book took her to the times gone-by and reading it was like having flashbacks.

“I still remember when Hassan Nasir’s mother came from India to recognise his body as she was the only next to kin who could do that. She said it was not her son’s body. My father (Faiz Sahib) could not bear it and he wrote the poem, Khatm Huee Barish-i-Sang,” she said, saying the book brings a flood of memories like this to her.

Salima said she was intrigued by women Harris had written about in his book, including the dancing girl (Shabana) from Swat who was killed by fundamentalists and Ustani JI.

Khalique said the book was his attempt to counter the erasure of memory. “There is a deliberate attempt to erase memory in India, Bangladesh and especially Pakistan. We don’t want to think about 1971 as we have erased it from our memory.”

He said we historicize the events and we create our own histories and myths. “We need to keep the past and its memories because its erasure can create a vacuum which would be filled by something coming from outside like Middle East,” Harris Khalique said.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2017