The panel discussion ‘Art and Enterprise for Conflict Resolution’ at the Karachi Literature Festival, featured a curious mix of a rock star, an entrepreneur and a nuclear physicist. The result: combustion. Moderated by Amin Hashwani, and unrestrained by political correctness, this was possibly one of the more taboo busting talks at the festival. True to the title, the session saw a conflict as well as a resolution.

After a music video put together by rock star Salman Ahmad in memoriam of former band-mate Junaid Jamshed was played at extremely high volume, Ahmad talked about how friction leads to the creation of art. He said that he and Jamshed came from completely different backgrounds and locations and had conflicting views. Yet it was this friction, he said, that resulted in the song ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’. Little did he know of the friction that was to come.

Throughout it all, renowned nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy looked unamused: or to be more precise, unmoved.

When it came his turn to speak, Hoodbhoy said that art, poetry and literature are important in so long as they are guided by the humanistic impulse. Otherwise, the arts can be used to serve fascism and dictatorship as has been seen throughout history. Refering to the Vital Signs, he cautioned the audience, “Just because a few guys get up and dance and have a nice song, don’t think that that is necessarily ‘progressive’. The problem is that we are too much in the grip of the wrong kind of poetry in this country.”

Referring to Jamshed, he said “then there was this guy with a big beard, who hated women, yet sold women’s apparel and who has shops all over the country. Sure we’re very sad he died, but there are much greater people who died, who were never celebrated.”

Hoodbhoy emphasised that poetry has to have a purpose. If it is to build peace, it has to bring us together, not separate us. He pointed out that we had wonderful native language poets amongst us, who have written in Urdu, Sindhi and Punjabi.
“We also have the expression of the human spirit in the form of love stories, in every language,” he added. This is the kind of poetry that brings out commonality. It tells us that we share common emotions with the person on the other side of the border.

The session also saw the launch of Untouched Octaves (2017), a work of poetry by Amin Hashwani containing photography by American entrepreneur and philanthropist Bobby Sager, who was on the panel.