LAHORE: The two-day International Punjabi Conference, titled Punjab’s Cultural Identity: Past and Present, concluded here at Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) on Saturday.

One of the sessions, titled ‘Classical Literature: Gender Question’, was moderated by writer and educationist Zubair Ahmed. He said that in classical literature, folk tales and poetry there was a strong mention of women, and poets such as Shah Hussain and Bulleh Shah wrote poetry from a woman’s point of view.

Professor Saeed Bhutta of Government College University said classical Punjabi poetry spanned over 700 years. Before Aryans, women used to enjoy a respectable status in society and a mother was the focal figure, however after Aryans men were tagged with valour and women weakness.

He also discussed the role of women in Punjabi romantic and Sufi tales, adding that the crux of all classical Punjabi literature was human independence.

Prof Anne Murphy from Canada shared with the audience the efforts she was making in Canada to promote Punjabi language. She read a paper titled Performing Punjabi Critical Commemoration and Creative Practice in which she elaborated her efforts to promote Punjabi through theatre.

Writer and journalist Jamil Pal described various roles of women mentioned in poetry by various classical Punjabi poets.

In the session ‘Partition: The Killers and the Killed’, Prof Pervaiz Vandal read a paper titled Partition, But What Now He described a scene during Partition, saying he was seven years old at that time and the cost of independence in Punjab was very high. Giving example of the Indus Valley Civilisation, he said there was nothing to glorify about war in that civilisation but they excelled in arts.

Mazhar Tirmizi from the UK said oral history sounded more believable. He quoted many stories of Partition in which Muslims helped Hindus and Sikhs and vice versa. “What happened that the people who were living together became each other’s enemies at the time of Partition?” he posed a question.

Nadhra Naeem Khan, an educationist and art historian from Lums, talked about the sentiments of cultural bereavement and memory loss. With the help of slides she showed old monuments and said buildings were also a sign of people living inside, but no care was taken for monuments.

In the last session, titled ‘History Owned Fully or Selectively’, Mushtaq Soofi presented an analysis of history saying it was a complicated issue in South Asia owing to the diversity of the region. Religious battles were also part of history and the attitude of people towards history was also important. He talked about Muhammad Bin Qasim and Mehmood Ghaznavi, saying those attacks were carried out to conquer the region.

Writer and intellectual Qazi Javed said Punjabi Muslims thought that Punjabi was the language of Sikhs and not Muslims, and Muslims’ language was Urdu. He said the divide also divided languages.

Iqbal Qaiser talked about Sikh shrines and his research on them. He said that on both sides of the border historians should write objective and rational history.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2018