With 146 scheduled participants, including novelists, journalists, economists, educationalists, political analysts, artists and architects, it is clear that this year’s edition of the literary fest will be bigger than ever.
“To put it literally, we are all ‘blacks’ and carry the same ‘wool’ which ‘Sir’ always wants!” says artist Nida Bangash about her work on shared colonial experiences.
“Television preachers need to encourage research and debate on religious matters,” says Dr Khalid Zaheer, a religious scholar and the dean of the faculty of arts and social sciences at the University of Central Punjab.
“Corruption is a secular issue that affects everyone. But if the movement has been hijacked by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, then how can Muslims support it?”
“The biggest surprise we got from the crowd was when they actually cheered us on while chanting a chorus of ‘PA-QUIS-TAOOOO’,” say the members of Chaar Payee.
“The new legislation aims to encourage children to question and not be indoctrinated,” says Naheed Durrani, who was the secretary of education until recently.