KARACHI: One of the well-attended pre-lunch sessions on Saturday at the 17th Karachi Literature Festival was the launch of the book Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia by Sam Dalrymple.

Answering a question put to him by moderator Aliya Iqbal-Naqvi, Mr Dalrymple gave an overview of the book. He showed an image on screen mentioning the urban legend that “you could see the Great Wall of China from space”.

“In fact, you can’t, even if you squint your eyes as hard as you could. The only wall on planet earth that’s visible from space is the India-Pakistan border,” he added.

He said the border was today the most fortified and militarised border on earth. [But] it is one of the many militarised borders in the region. “If you go further east, the India-Bangladesh border is actually the longest border wall… Further east, the India-Myanmar border is the largest currently under construction. What’s extraordinary is that 100 years ago, not a single of one of these borders was even foreseen. One hundred years ago, the Raj was still at very much of its height.”

Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia launched

Mr Dalrymple said 98 years ago when the Congress set out [its plan] for national independence, the main story of the newspapers was not that but the British Empire’s planning to expand into space, trying to contact aliens for the very first time. “If there’s one thing I want you (audience) to take away from this talk is that is the image of British India in the 1920s is entirely different from the one we’ve grown up with.”

He then showed a passport of a Yemeni Jewish woman from what’s now southern Yemen who was trying to migrate to Jerusalem after the Balfour Declaration. In order to make that migration, she had to go on an Indian Empire passport. As a Yemeni, she was legally an Indian citizen.

“It was Indian Empire, because it was always regarded as that, two/thirds directly ruled by the Brits, but almost a third ruled by semi-independent princely states,” he said.

Key themes in Iqbal’s poetry unravelled

Another interesting session on Saturday was titled Her Ahd, Ahd-i-Iqbal (every era is Iqbal’s era). It was moderated by Mujahid Barelvi and the panellists included Sarwat Mohiuddin, Nasir Abbas Nayyar and Walid Iqbal.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Iqbal said Allama Iqbal’s poetry had three important themes.

“Those three themes are still relevant and important. First is the human condition; second, the philosophy of khudi; third, intellect and love,” he added.

He, like other panellists, recited quite a few verses to support his argument.

Meanwhile, the Youth Pavilion celebrated performances by the selected schoolchildren who participated in the Obhartay Sitaray competition, session on ‘Empowering a Deaf Child’, learning SEO with Abdul Hadi, songs of Bachpan kay Geet, Umar Bhar ki Yaadain, Young Readers Dialogue and a session on robotics.

There were parallel sessions on language, gender, education and the arts.

These included book launches by Shahid Siddiqui, discussions on women in print culture, the future of education and contemporary poetry.

The evening ended with the screening of Pakistani film Chikkar and a lively mushaira celebrating poetry.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2026