LAHORE: Hundreds of Lahori youth belonging to different public and private sector educational institutions are busy colouring walls alongside city roads.

The paintings can be seen all over the city on once grey walls now turned colourful.

These young people are marching, dancing, singing and coloring to celebrate Youth Festival which is being organized during Jashen e Baharaim (Spring Festival). The festival is going on in Lahore till March 23 of this year.

Their messages are bold with bright big images in three languages – English, Urdu and Punjabi.

Sara Ali, painting a wall near Liberty Crossing said the paint and brushes were sponsored by a local private paint company. “But themes, ideas and images are drawn by us” she said while painting a bright stroke of red on a wall.

Some of the areas chosen by the students include M.M. Alam Road, Zahoor Elahi Road, Center Point, Mini Market, Hussain Chowk, Liberty Crossing and Firdos Market.

Farzana Naseem a visitor from Sahiwal while crossing Firdos market said she stopped by just because of the colourful wall, “I was forced to stop because the colour spoke to me.”

The entire activity was sponsored by a private paint company along with a civil society organization called Message Welfare Trust.  Many of the messages were political in nature but seemed to promote moral and ethical content said a student.

The students participating belong to Kinnaird College, Government College for Women, Gulberg, Fine Arts Department, Punjab University, Lahore University, F.C. College, University of Engineering and Technology, NUST, Lahore College Women University, King Adward Medical University, and Home Economics College. – Text and photos by Shafiq Butt