LAHORE: Many thought-provoking sessions were part of the opening day of ThinkFest at the Alhamra Art Center, The Mall, on Saturday.

A panel of experts spoke about various aspects of climate change in a session aptly titled ‘Can Tourism in Punjab survive the fifth season’. The panelists were Hammad Naqi, CEO World Wide Fund for Nature, Imrana Tiwana, environmentalist and lawyer, Faisal Siddiqui, CEO Daewoo Group, and Dr Suhail Cheema, adviser to CM on Tourism. The session was moderated by Attiya Noon.

Hammad Naqi said the county was blessed with natural treasures such as mountains, deserts, enriching wildlife but, unfortunately, much of it was unexplored. Such places had a lot of tourism potential. He said a good healthy environment was needed for ecotourism. This sector had a lot of potential for sustainable tourism. However, Mr Naqi said, there were certain prerequisites for promoting ecotourism such as there should not be a mushroom growth of hotels, high-rise buildings etc.

Imrana Tiwana said the role of the WWF was highly important for the promotion of tourism. She said Punjab was full of treasures and many areas remained unexplored. Participation of people from all walks of life, she said, was vital to promote tourism.

“Around 70pc of people lack clean water and the air is also full of pollution,” she said.

Faisal Siddiqui talked about urban mobility and technologies used in transportation.

Dr Suhail Cheema said Punjab had never been a focus area. Places like Murree, he said, were not eco-friendly. He said efforts were being made to make these places eco-friendly.

ON FAIZ: In another session titled ‘Faiz in Urdu, Faiz in English’, the panelists Anjum Altaf from LUMS and Syed Noman ul Haq from UMT discussed the translations of Faiz’s poetry. The session was moderated by Salman Akram Raja, a known lawyer.

Anjum Altaf spoke about his book, Transgressions, having poems inspired by Faiz. He said most English translations of Faiz’s poetry were weak. Many of these were just literal translations, he said.

Syed Noman ul Haq said it’s very difficult to do adequate justice to the translation of Faiz’s poetry. “Many words are deeply woven into the historic tradition,” he said.

He said translation from one language into another was always difficult and challenging. Faiz, he said, would always uphold tradition in his poetry and had a great influence of Arabic diction.

MANSOOR HALLAJ: Carl Ernst, professor of Islamic Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, threw light on mystic Mansoor Hallaj in a session on his poetry and resistance.

The works of Hallaj, he said, are still relevant after thousands of years. He mentioned the translations he had done from Arabic of Mansoor Hallaj’s poetry the lyrics and ideas still heard in popular songs.

THINK GLOBALLY, STUDY LOCALLY: A distinguished panel comprising Nicholas Driks, former chancellor UC Berkeley, Tariq Banuri, chairman HEC, Tahir Andrabi, Dean School of Education (LUMS) and Rukhsana David, principal Kinnaird College. The session was moderated by Senator Musadik Malik.

Mr Driks throwing light on the academic excellence of Berkeley University said he served for years there as a chancellor. The university was established in 1868. There are 23 Nobel Laureates on the faculty with the highest level of research and teaching.

The panelists underlined the need for imparting quality education in universities and colleges.

Tahir Andrabi also stressed the need for providing quality education. He said there was little research on higher education.

Rukhsana David said Kinnaird had shifted its focus to research. She said teachers should emphasise on how to inculcate the spirit of research in students.

Tariq Banuri said: “We need to think at the global level as there is a set of challenges. We have the problem of quality. The very purpose of a teacher is to make one successful.”

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2020