LAHORE: The second day of the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (Pilac) festival comprised sessions on various topics as well as musical performances.

The Pilac centre was decorated with multi-coloured balloons and lights. There were also stalls of handicrafts and traditional Punjabi food.

In a session titled ‘Culture and National Harmony’, which was moderated by Additional Culture Secretary Saman Rai, the speakers shed light on the cultures and traditions of each province. Anwar Chandio from Sindh said civilisations would always settle along rivers and the Indus civilisation was the richest and ever-growing civilisation. He called Punjab the richest province for being the meeting point of the five rivers.

He believed the strong traditions of Sufism were prevalent and in vogue in all provinces. He said that through Sufism the message of peace and tolerance had been spread widely.

Dr Badarul Hakeem from Bacha Khan University of Charsadda read out a paper on the traditions and values of Pakhtuns. He talked about the role of Gandhara and Budh civilisations and their roles in the region. He quoted some verses by Rehman Baba regarding cultural harmony and said each province had its rich traditions and values.

Writer Aftab Javed regretted that culture was now being adopted as a fashion and people had gone far from their folk traditions. Certain inventions and new trends in society had made human beings lonely despite living in a society; old family system had faded away and traditions no more there.

Farrukh Sohail Goindi said there was no problem with modernisation, but one should remain in touch with their values and traditions. He said the Germans were researching on the rich Indus civilisation.

In another session, ‘Culture and Music’, experts discussed various periods of music in the country and the role of classical music.

The festival featured a number of musical performances as well. Folk singers performed in local dialects. The ghazal session was attended by a large audience where the legendary Ghulam Ali, Khalil Haider, Muhammad Jawad and a few others performed, while Hamid Ali Khan and Arshad Fateh Ali Khan performed in the classical music session.

Other performances scheduled for the evening included Cholistani dance and singing, Nadeem Abbas Lunaywala, Saima Jahan, Adeel Barki among others.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2018