T was the first session of the second day and maybe for that reason the auditorium was scarcely filled. Two of the panellists, Ataul Haq Qasmi and Tehseen Firaqi, also did not show up.

However, the discussion on `The Future of Urdu Literature in the Punjab` was carried out brilliantly by Asghar Nadeem Syed and Intizar Husain, moderated by Ali Usman Qureshi.

Qureshi traced the evolution of Urdu language in the Punjab through the colonial era and said that the British government prioritised the use of Urdu as opposed to Punjabi. Punjab, and particularly Lahore, welcomed Urdu quite graciously which is evident from the emergence of several towering literary figures of the twentieth century from the province.

Husain referred to Maulana Muhammad Hussain`s observation that the literary centre of Urdu had transferred from Delhi and Lucknow to Lahore. He also said that Lahore produced a great poet Iqbalwho could be compared with Ghalib, and after him Faiz, Rashid, Miraji, Nasir Kazmi, Munir, Manto, Baidi, Krishan Chandra etc.

followed. Syed added that Lahore was also the centre of the Progressive Writers` Association. That generation established their own trends in language and literature but there is no replacement of these trends.

Language and literature are dynamic,evolving and renewing themselves constantly. Husain explained that each new generation rebels against the norms of the older generation. But he felt that the current generation is not experimenting in Urdu or Punjabi. One reason for this is the commercialisation of the media. Now writers want to be popular and bestsellers in a matter of days, he said.

Syed criticised Ziaul Haq`s regime for its suppression of those writers and academics who challenged the state narrative. He also said that a boring, irrelevant and inaccurate syllabus of Urdu as taught in schools is alienating students from the language.

According to Syed, the current intellectual barrenness is more evident in non-literary areas. While poets and fiction writers are contributing, not much quality work is being done in the fields of history, psychology, sociology, philosophy and anthropology. New movements in philosophy and psychology are being introduced to Pakistani readers by literary critics and not by the experts of those fields.

Similarly, fiction is playing the role of a social historian.

What was missing from the session, and the festival, was the presence of writers such as Mirza Athar Baig and Abdullah Hussain, whose contributions to Urdu literature have been momentous. E -Umair Khan