On 11-12 January 2025, Lahore once again played host to the ‘Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest,’ Pakistan’s largest academic and policy festival. Yaqoob Bangash, the founder, kicked off the packed weekend, noting how this year’s posters reimagined images of protest and resistance as postage stamps. Indeed, we should reflect on how peaceful protest has the power to make each country a better one through positive change and accountability.
There is no doubt that the speaker with the greatest reception was Mira Nair, the Indian filmmaker who made the journey across the Wagah border, 14 years after her last visit to Pakistan. This was hailed by many attendees as a momentous occasion in terms of cross-border cultural engagement. Her interaction with the acclaimed Pakistani author, Mohsin Hamid, moderated by Bilal Tanweer, marked the start of the festival as they discussed the processes behind the writing and film production of The Reluctant Fundamentalist. A theme that resonated strongly with the audience was the importance of not conforming to Western ideas and approaches in their art, especially in resisting stereotypical tropes about Muslims and South Asians.
Other popular cultural panels included the commemoration of the late, great Bapsi Sidhwa through her contribution to literature and the discussions on ‘Kiya drama hai’ (Marina Khan, Nadia Khan, Haissam Hussain, Mustafa Afridi, Nadia Jamil and Mukarram Kaleem) and ‘Salam Cinema’ (Mira Nair, Ahad Raza Mir, Saim Sadiq and Fifi Haroon). There were also art exhibitions curated by Iram Zia Raja, Shabnam Syed Khan, Rohma Khan, and Faseeh Saleem, entitled ‘Domestic Provocations,’ exploring creativity as a provocateur. The first day ended with a celebration of the winter festival, Lohri, in a commendable display of reclaiming Punjabi traditions.
But what must not be overlooked is the contribution of ThinkFest 2025 to academic discussion in a world that feels increasingly threatened by disinformation and polarisation. A stand-out speaker was Mahmood Mamdani, first in his book launch with S. Akbar Zaidi of Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities, which discusses the close-knit relationship between the nation-state and the colonial state in different contexts around the world, and how religious or ethnic majorities have been politicised at the expense of a minority. His second talk with Ejaz Haider unpicked the issue of the two-state solution in the Middle East, noting the competing conceptions of homeland and belonging within the Jewish faith. In the context of the genocide in Gaza, for which there was a moment of silence at the beginning of the second day, the ThinkFest audience also benefitted from hearing about the experiences of the Lebanese journalist, Leila Hatoum.
Two panels in particular sought to provide alternative approaches to the history of Pakistan beyond official and revisionist histories. One was the book launch of Tahir Kamran’s Chequered Past, Uncertain Future: A History of Pakistan, in which he seeks to answer questions about the Pakistani identity and whether the country has been adequately imagined. In a varied interaction moderated by Rajaa Sahgal with the esteemed Tariq Rehman, Dora Gunsberger, and Markus Daechsel, key issues like the ongoing impact of colonial and neocolonial governance and urbanisation on Pakistan and the relationship between religious minorities and the state were discussed. The second historical panel addressed ‘Correcting Punjab’s Revisionist History’ in a conversation between Jugnu Mohsin and Mushtaq Soofi.
The greatest reception was Mira Nair, the Indian filmmaker who made the journey across the Wagah border, 14 years after her last visit to Pakistan
At the intersection of history and religion was Ayesha Jalal’s discussion, led by Raza Rumi, on whether Muslims can be “enlightened.” Jalal argued that Enlightenment is not a category that belongs solely to the West and that there has long been a “Roshan khyaali” about Muslim thought and interaction between the West and East. In the Q&A section, she criticised the lack of a desire to read among the Pakistani youth as a key pedagogical obstacle to critical thinking about political ideology. The often-contested character and contributions of Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan were discussed both in Jalal’s panel and in one dedicated to his ongoing relevance today by Shafey Kidwai at the Aligarh Muslim University, in conversation with the founder of the Akhuwat Foundation, Amjad Saqib, Baela Raza Jamil, and Ehtasham Anwar.
Topics relating to religion also inhabited an important place at ThinkFest this year. I was fortunate to be in conversation with Arsalan Khan for the book launch of The Promise of Piety: Islam and the Politics of Moral Order in Pakistan. This is an anthropological study of the Tablighi Jama’at in Pakistan, which emphasises embodied practices, particularly face-to-face preaching (dawat), and an ethics of hierarchy and self-cultivation. Khan also importantly showed how the transnational movement largely does not indulge in Pakistan’s so-called “blasphemy politics,” thereby reflecting how Islamic movements in the country are not homogenous. Amar Sohal also discussed his book, The Muslim Secular: Parity and the Politics of India’s Partition, with Aliya Iqbal Naqvi, which argues for the existence of Muslim secularity within Indian nationalism through an examination of the political thought of Abul Kalam Azad, Sheikh Abdullah, and Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
Laurent Gayer had the opportunity to present his new book, Gunpoint Capitalism: Enforcing Industrial Order in Karachi, with Muhammad Zubair and Khurram Hussain, which studies Karachi’s economic “order” in the wake of the 2012 Pakistan factory fires and the surrounding controversy about the exploitation of workers in fast fashion and the role of power structures. Contentious political subjects were also addressed, beginning with the launch of Muneeb Qadir’s The Age of Intolerance: Global Populism & Decline of Democracy in the 21st Century. Mehrub Awan, Central Secretary of the Awami National Party, led this discussion about populism across the world as unified by certain ideas and practices, including in the context of Pakistan. Qadir pertinently discussed the monopoly that Elon Musk has over information, describing it as the currency of today because of the way it shapes thought. Former prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, explored why Pakistan is always in a political crisis with Mohammad Malick, and the 26th constitutional amendment was tackled by lawyers Salman Akram Raja, Saroop Ejaz, and Noorzadeh Raja, alongside the constitutional scholar, Maryam S. Khan.
It was impossible to attend all of the panels, but they offered expert insight into many of the issues, challenges, and interests of our world today, particularly in the context of Pakistan and the wider region. Looking forward to seeing what next year holds for ThinkFest!