PESHAWAR: Speakers at the opening ceremony of the second edition of Peshawar Literature Festival (PLF) stressed the need for reviving the habit of reading among youth.

The second edition of PLF was launched at Institute of Education and Research (IER), University of Peshawar, on Tuesday. Poets, writers, scholars and rights activists attended the opening ceremony in a large number. Dosti Welfare Organisation in collaboration with IER and several other bodies arranged the second edition of the festival.

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Vice-Chancellor Prof Safia Ahmad, Prof Wasif Ali, Prof Faizullah Jan and students and teachers attended the opening ceremony of the festival.

Speakers asked youth to take full advantage of the event as it would help them to find new information through more than 60 lively sessions of scholarly talks, debates and launch of books.

Speakers at opening ceremony call for reviving reading habit among youth

They said that scholars, authors and literati from major cities would share their views, opinions and experiences with the participants.

They added that the second edition of the festival would present altogether a new face of Peshawar and its residents to the world.

Opening the five-day event, Prof Mohammad Rauf, the director of IER, said it was a moment of pride for his department to host such a mega event where experts, scholars and literati would explore various aspects of linguistic and cultural diversity of the province.

He said that guests and visitors would find treasure of knowledge, information and fun at the event. He added that the event was purely an academic and literary initiative with no commercial intent.

Culture Secretary Tahir Orakzai said that the event would bring young people closer to revive habit of reading and engage them in positive activities. He said that it was unfortunate that the young lot had distanced themselves from pen and book culture.

“I believe that such festivals would reawaken their spirit to explore world through books and debates,” he added.

Prof Munir Ahmad said that more than 200 volunteers compared to last year only 80 would assist people at the festival.

He said that interest of young volunteers, mostly university students, would yield fruit in facilitating guests.

Later, Prof Nasir Ali Syed moderated first session of the festival comprising panellists Prof Samiuddin Arman, Mushtaq Shahab and Prof Amjad Saleem, who shed light on the background of literary scene of Peshawar valley with regard to Urdu, Pashto Hindko and English alongside other languages spoken in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The panellists said that land and people of the province had been enjoying rich linguistic and cultural diversity down the ages.

They stressed the need for exploring the beauty of the richness and exuberance of treasure for peace and resilience.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2023