By Zubeida Mustafa
LAST Monday was International Mother Language Day. In Pakistan some seminars were held but they had no impact on the national discourse. Few in this country consider language a significant element of life. Nor are they interested. The day should have been an occasion for celebrations and some solemn soul-searching to remind us of the many tragic moments in our language and political history. We have wiped them out from our collective memory.
Continue reading Language DayBy Rifaat Hamid Ghani
WHILE people are keenly focused on speculative discussion about no confidence motions or fresh elections to overthrow or return the incumbents in greater strength, the incumbents devise and push through an ordinance that facilitates and expands the legalized sphere of coercion and intimidation and suppression and detention to include – if its phrasing is understood and means what it says — not just hapless journalists and soiled rivals but any random suspect.
Continue reading What next?By Zubeida Mustafa
WHEN Ameena Saiyid organised the first Karachi Literature Festival in 2010 she had hoped it would inspire others to hold their own festivals and thus start a movement. She succeeded to an extent. A number of literature festivals are now being held in the country. Ameena was then the managing director at Oxford University Press (OUP) and had the resources and clout to initiate an undertaking of this nature. She also had Asif Farrukhi by her side to indigenise the festival. Literature from our own languages made the KLF more inclusive.
Continue reading Whither culture?