Muzaffarabad: President of the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi, Muhammad Ahmed Shah, has announced that the Pakistan Literature Festival Kashmir Chapter will be inaugurated on 3rd June at Muzaffarabad.
While addressing a a press conference here on Friday he said that the festival will feature more than 20 sessions and is set to be the largest literary and cultural festival in the history of Azad Kashmir.
Shah said that the festival is organized in a response to the illegally held G20 conference at Srinagar and aims to highlight the historical, cultural, and artistic heritage of Jammu and Kashmir, which has been overshadowed due to the current situation in Kashmir.
Muhammad Ahmed Shah stated that Kashmir has a history and culture that spans thousands of years, and it is essential to organize such programs and festivals to keep this history and culture alive. Therefore, steps will be taken to establish an Arts Council in Muzaffarabad.
“Pakistani society is currently divided into different ideologies, and our effort is to connect this division with literature and culture” he added.
Shah told the journalist that the Urdu conference attracts people from all over the world, and all languages have been included in it. Now, the Pakistanpag Literature Festival has been initiated, starting from Lahore and now taking place in Kashmir. Later, the festival will be taken to other cities and even outside the country to showcase Pakistan’s culture and bright face to the world.
Providing details about the festival, President of the Arts Council Muhammad Ahmed Shah said that the festival will include sessions on various important topics such as the beauty of Azad Kashmir for tourists, Kashmir’s cultural heritage, espionage from Kashmir, Kashmir’s resistance literature, enlightening books, the journey of Kashmiri women, discussions with Rehman Farsi, the role of media in the Kashmir issue concerning Article 35A and 370, conversations with Kamran Lashari, Kashmir and Fikr-e-Iqbal, sketches from the schools of Kashmir, “A Kiss on the Forehead,” acknowledgment of greatness, Amir Najmi’s story, Salman Gilani’s talks, a pledge by Munawar Saeed, Kashmir and Pakistan’s music, Kashmir’s folk dances, and the international mushaira. Renowned writers, journalists, artists, singers, and poets from Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir will participate in these sessions.
He said that the government of Azad Kashmir did not provide any financial resources, but the government of Sindh extended remarkable cooperation, being the only provincial government that spends the most on culture.
During the press conference Secretary of Tourism and Archaeology of Azad Kashmir Midhat Shahzad, Secretary of Information Ansar Yaqub Khan, Secretary Population Welfare Ahmed Atta Ullah and Director of Information and Amjad Hussain Minhas were also present on the occasion.