Ilm Festival ends with promises of more literary activities

KARACHI: People from different walks of life, including health professionals, intellectuals, educationists, art critics, and students called the two-day Ilm Festival as an encouraging sign for reviving literary activities in the city, which suffered significant setback amid years of violence and vulnerable peace situation.

Expressing their thoughts while visiting the Expo Center Karachi on the Ilm Festival organized by Jahan-e-Maseeha, they lauded the efforts of organizers. They appreciated their pro literature campaign, which they said could prove long-term contribution to the society.

"I am quite enthralled and surprised to see how this festival has attracted a large number of Karachiites," said Dr Tipu Sultan, a renowned health professional and former president of the Pakistan Medical Association while visiting the Ilm Festival Karachi at the Expo Center said.

"It's now high time that we promote such activities in the city, which was once the centre of literature, arts, and culture. Jahan-e-Maseeha has played its part, and now other segments of the society should come forward for their contribution," he said.

The two-day Ilm Festival came to a close after witnessing thousands of visitors.

The festival offered over a million books at more than 100 stalls ranging from literature to law and from poetry to social sciences.

The executive member of Jahan-e-Maseeha, Haroon Qasim, along with Chairman, Advisory Board of the Bethak School, Syed Jamshed Ahmed, and organizers of the Ilm Festival, Irfan Ahmed, Athar Sulaiman, and Abdul Samad welcomed the guests at the festival who also arranged a food court for the visitors with over a dozen stalls of renowned food chains.

Author and critic, Dr Moinuddin Aqeel, on occasion, said that activities like the Ilm Festival did not only offer an opportunity to literature lovers but also strengthened the campaign for the revival of Urdu in national education and administrative systems.

"It is quite unfortunate that despite rulings from the Supreme Court and several commitments from the authorities, we have been unable to implement Urdu as our official language. We need more of such events which will help aware people of the depth of our literature and promote the importance of Urdu in our education and administrative systems," he added.

The organizers of the festival said that the people's participation and interest had been phenomenal, which encouraged them to design more such activities in the city in the days to come.

Irfan Ahmed, a senior member of Jahan-e-Maseeha and chief organizer of the event, said that some 10000 people visited the festival for two days, and the feedback was quite encouraging and exceeded their expectations.

"Jahan-e-Maseeha is a literary forum which frequently organizes book festivals, Mushairas, and publishes literature pieces throughout the year," he said.

"All these exercises are part of the efforts which are aimed at the promotion of literature and healthy activities in society.

During the past few years, the Jahan-e-Maseeha has emerged as a critical platform, mainly in the literary circle of Karachi. We believe that with time, the number of our activities would further grow and attract more people towards literature and knowledge."