ICCR sponsored authors’ trip to literary event

Karachi literary festival founder says she regards it as a ‘friendly and progressive’ move

At a time when the diplomatic dialogue between India and Pakistan has come to a virtual standstill, a sign of a temporary thaw in the cultural space is visible as Indian government’s flagship culture body sponsored the travel of four Indian authors to the Karachi Literature Festival that concluded on Sunday.

Founder and Director of the Karachi literature festival, Ameena Saiyid, is seemingly overwhelmed by ICCR’s support and has said that she regards it as a “friendly and progressive initiative” by India’s flagship culture body.

“I regard it as a friendly and progressive initiative by ICCR and appreciate their support for literary and cultural events. It is precisely because there are some differences between our two countries that such festivals and support of them are necessary.

“I think such people-to-people contacts are of great importance in promoting peace and harmony between India and Pakistan. This is one of the objectives of the Karachi Literature Festival of which I am the founder and director,” Saiyid told IANS in an email from Islamabad.

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations’ (ICCR), which promotes the country’s relations with the external world by executing the foreign ministry’s projects abroad, supported the travel of Indian authors to Karachi Literature Festival.

Primary reports suggested that ICCR was one of the sponsors of the event in Pakistan as its official website lists the culture body in its sponsors page. However, ICCR director general has said that they only sponsored the travel of four Indian authors to the festival.

“We did not sponsor the event. We only sponsored the travel of four Indian authors to the festival. The total amount was less than Rs160,000 (Dh8,768). What happens is that a lot of authors reach out to us for travel assistance during such festivals and we support them. The decision was made in 2016,” ICCR director general Amarendra Khatua said.