QUETTA: The 3rd Quetta Literary Festival concluded here on Tuesday, with the pledge to continue promoting cultural values, literature, all languages, art, music, book reading and other healthy activities through engaging leading intellectuals, poets, political and economic experts and encouraging book writers.

As many as 46 different dialogues and discussions were held during the two-day festival organised by the Balochistan University of Information and Technology Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS).

Nine books on different topics and poetry in Urdu, Pashto, Balochi, Brahvi and Hazaragi languages were launched at the festival.

Water crisis in Balochistan, urban backwardness, problems of Quetta city, history of colonialism in Balochistan, Urdu, Brahvi and Pashto literature, uniform national curriculum, role of educational institutions in promoting regional languages and cultural tourism in the province were taken up during the discussions.

Nine books launched; 46 sessions held during the two-day event

Role of volunteering in the betterment of society, economic crisis and its causes, role of women in society, importance of vaccination and Pakistani cinema industry were also discussed in detail.

Ex-senator Javed Jabbar, Dr Kaiser Bengali, Dr Jaffar Rizvi, Dr Asim Sajjad, Dr Quratulain, Tooba Syed, Dr Sami Tareen, Sahiba Samar, Iqbal Nazar, Dr Taj Raisani, Abdul Rehman, Sikandar Bizenjo, Zia Khan, Ayesha Shahid, Hayatullah Durrani gave their valuable input during the discussions.

The BUITEMS vice chancellor, who was the special guest at the closing ceremony of the event, said the university always played its role in promoting education, positive healthy activities in the province and highlighted the soft image and importance of Balochistan. He said the festival was a ray of hope that would light the candle of peace and harmony in society.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2022