This year’s Karachi Literature Festival in Pakistan, scheduled to take place from February 5 to 7, has run into controversial waters after actor Anupam Kher, who was billed as one of the festival’s star speakers, was denied a visa. Even if Kher cannot make it to Karachi, the festival will have a sizeable delegation of Indian authors, artists, and activists, four of them from Mumbai.
“The Karachi Literature Festival helps create spaces for peace and understanding,” said Ameena Saiyid, director and co-founder of the festival. “By inviting speakers from India, I hope to reconnect our countries’ composite culture, heritage and literature.” She added, “I am talking about the rich, ancient, diverse and yet common history and civilization of India and Pakistan which our recent history has tried to deny. This is what my aunt, Qurratulain Hyder, stood for, and wrote about.” Ms Hyder is a celebrated name in Urdu literature, best known for her novel Aag Ka Darya . She migrated to Pakistan in 1947 but later returned to live in India.
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, transgender rights activist and author of the book Me Hijra, Me Laxmi , who will speak at the festival, says, “I have been to Islamabad before, and feel honoured to be invited to Karachi now. We must talk. The dialogue will be beneficial for the hijra and khwaja sira (a Pakistani trans term) communities in both countries.”
Another star participant is actor Nandita Das, who has acted in Pakistani filmmaker Mehreen Jabbar’s film Ramchand Pakistani . Ms Das is now working on a film inspired by the life and literary output of Saadat Hasan Manto, a writer claimed by both Indians and Pakistanis as theirs.
Bina Sarkar Ellias will speak about her experience as poet and editor-publisher of International Gallerie , an arts and ideas journal. This will be her third visit to Pakistan. Ms Sarkar says, “Pakistanis are one of the most hospitable people in the world. However, at the government level, despite the cosmetic overtures, we are still in a cesspool. There is no consolidated action from either government to erase the impasse. Eventually, it is culture that will humanise.” Her husband, Rafeeq Ellias, will accompany her to the festival, and show his film The Legend of Fat Mama , which is about the Chinese community in Kolkata. He is travelling to Pakistan after a gap of 30 years. He said, “Beyond the educated elite at the festival, I hope to meet a wide cross-section of people and engage with diverse and even opposing viewpoints. I am an inveterate supporter of peace, so I do hope we will build bridges.” Their daughter, Yuki Ellias, a theatre actor and educator, will travel with them to Karachi. On the sidelines of the festival, she will conduct workshops with Pakistani theatre groups such as Tehreek-e-Niswan and National Academy of Performing Arts.
The other Indian speakers at the festival include author Rakshanda Jalil, journalist Barkha Dutt, stand-up comedian Sanjay Rajoura, translator Alok Bhalla, politician Salman Khurshid, singer Vidya Shah, author Arshia Sattar, lawyer Saif Mahmood, writer Noor Zaheer, and activist Ruchira Gupta.
The author is a freelance writer who tweets: @chintan_connect
By inviting speakers from India, I hope to reconnect our countries’ composite culture, heritage and literature
Ameena Saiyid
Director and co-founder
of the festival
The festival will have a sizeable delegation of Indian authors, artists, and activists, four of them from Mumbai
