“Our cultural heritage is under attack” marked the opening of the session ‘War on Culture’ moderated by Mishal Husain. She spoke of a few examples of attacks, such as the Buddha statues bombed by the Taliban, the constant threat to Gandhara art, regular outcries over M.F. Hussain’s paintings and the more recent row over Wendy Doniger’s latest book, Hindus: An Alternative History.

Ahmed Rashid spoke of how this “war on culture” permeates and mutates into “the degradation of human rights.” For him, abuses against women, children and the minorities is another facet of this “war”: “If we can treat human beings in this manner, it becomes easier to destroy art, culture and the artefacts that comprise it.”

Journalist Hugh Eakin also pointed out that “around six world heritage sites in Syria have been destroyed and damaged” while art historian Naman Ahuja spoke about rising apathy among people. He said that policies safeguarding not just human rights but also the culture of an area should be implemented and not just formulated: “Let us show the art we want to show, publish the books we want to read and preserve the space of culture.” According to him, more needs to be done by the state to instill in the people a sense of ownership over what is displayed in their museums, and text that is published.

Another favourite at the festival, Vikram Seth, elaborated that “culture is also how we treat each other, a way of being.” Suppression of books and scholarship, as happened with Doniger’s book, is a “dangerous precedent in any society,” India being no exception. The session was one of the few that were moderated well and Husain asked the panellists questions regarding the ease with which it is easier to destroy than create, emphasising how the “destruction of culture is not unique to any particular movement or extremist group.”

The debate would have benefited had more contextualised instances within the country been discussed. Panellists needed to talk more about how exactly we are at war against our history. As Rashid rightly pointed out, “modernisation has not brought about more humaneness, but in fact more destruction such as in the case of the suicide bomber.”

Moderated by Masud Ashar, the session titled ‘Humara Culture aur Bairuni Asarat’ raised the question of identity with regards to culture. The question is an unanswered one, according to the panellists that comprised some of the brightest minds of the country, and is continually seen in a post-Partition context. The panel was an attempt to explore how varying influences have been a part of and influenced our ‘local’ culture.

Author Khaled Ahmed spoke of how difficult it is to define the term and to understand its purpose. According to him, culture tends to bring people together. He spoke at length of culture with regards to the Sufi tradition. Asif Farrukhi steered the conversation towards how anything that we as a society do not understand gets labelled “bairuni asarat.” We are very suspicious and only wish to accept those things that are close to home or our religion. He was unapologetic when accusing people of having a “reductionist view of culture.”

Intizar Husain agreed whole heartedly with Farrukhi, and said that “the two problems that Pakistan still has not solved are the issues of the Kalabagh dam and culture.” Despite his light-hearted remarks, Husain emphasised how culture cannot flourish in isolation and that different influences do become a part of it.

Poet Fahmida Riaz, known for her feminist poetry, spoke of how the establishment uses culture and distorts it to suit its purpose. For her, Pakistani culture is influenced by the Middle East as well as Central Asia, yet when it comes to South Asia, which we are geographically a part of, we shun customs from the area. She also shed light on how women suffer the most in the male definition of culture.

The unfortunate part of the session was that it did not take the debate forward. With a constant referencing to Punjabi and Pushto songs that had the crowd in stitches, the seriousness of the debate was swept away.