SINDH is witnessing a surge in literary festivals, with around a dozen such events taking place annually. One of the most prominent among them is the Pakistan Literature Festival in Sukkur, which has become known as the Sukkur Literature Festival, or SLF. This year, an unprec-edented move was witnessed; the main roads of Sukkur were blocked using containers.

A unique and concerning feature of the festival is its online registration requirement. The application demands personal details, such as full name, father’s name, city, CNIC number, phone number, and an alternative contact, after which a security code is sent for verification. Only upon entering the code is a barcode issued, allowing entry to the festival.

This year, many attendees reported that some individuals were systematically denied access as the application refused to generate their codes.

The underlying intent appears to be data collection, ensuring that festival organisers have complete personal records of the attendees. Major literary festivals in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad do not impose such rigid registration requirements.

Further, a university in Sukkur, which has earned a name for itself in the last decade or so, forces its students to attend the festival. The same is the case with some other universities in Sukkur and Khairpur.

As for the festival itself, the inaugu-ration ceremony had the provincial chief minister alongside key political figures. The stage was so crowded with government officials and members of the ruling party in the province that it looked more like a political gathering rather than a literary event.

Interestingly, the president of Karachi Arts Council stole the limelight owing to an awkward incident. His designated seat had been taken up by a senior politician, but he publicly demanded his seat back. The chief minister simply looked on. Moreover, another striking moment during SLF was when a renowned Sindhi singer attempted to perform a song only to be abruptly stopped by the festival administration.

The censorship of Sindh’s iconic poet’s work at the event truly exposed the und-erlying political control over such festivals.

Zubair Soomro
Shikarpur

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025