Lahore 2016
1st - 3rd April, 2016
The inaugural Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest was held from April 1-3, 2016 at the Alhamra Cultural Complex in Lahore. The ThinkFest featured politicians, journalists, scholars from prestigious universities and leading academics from many countries around the world.
ThinkFest 2016
The panels ranged from a talk by Modern Muslim Thought by Dr Faisal Devji from Oxford University, to a panel on Law and the Judiciary led by Sir William Blackburne, lately of the England and Wales High Court, Mr Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, the then Senior Puisne Judge of the Lahore High Court, and lawyer Mr Feisal Naqvi. Another panel featured Dr Maria Misra from Oxford in conversation with Women Action Forum stalwart Afiya Zia on the women’s movement, while a panel on history teaching in Pakistan was led by Professor Akbar Zaidi from Columbia.
There were also sessions on the two Punjab’s of India and Pakistan, Bacha Khan’s thought and legacy, and the state of Higher Education in Pakistan. Dr Nafisa Shah also shared her ground breaking research on Karo Kari (honour killing) in Sindh, while Professor Catherine Asher and Dr. Nadhra Khan took us through the world of art history. Professor Peter Frankopan from Oxford then gave depth to the discussion on CPEC through a history of the Silk roads, while Dr Farzana Sheikh from Chatham house spoke about harnessing the language of Sufism in Pakistan.
The ThinkFest featured 93 guest speakers over the course of three days. Other prominent speakers included Ambassador Aziz Ahmed Khan, Charles Allen, Najam Sethi, Prof. Atta-ur-Rehman, Professor Naazish Ataullah, Ejaz Haider, Dr Rajiva Wijeshina and Dr Happymon Jacob.
The ThinkFest brought together students and faculty from every major university in Lahore, collected the best intellects of the world, and certainly opened by newer worlds to all those present, and beyond.
