MQM-P, JI leaders jointly inaugurate the literary ‘Ilm Festival’ in Karachi

• The Festival was jointly inaugurated by MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar and JI leader Muhammad Hussain Mehnti.
• Health screening camps and stalls were also established at the literacy festival by different health organizations and diagnostic services.

KARACHI: Hundreds of physicians along with their families as well as political leaders, government officials and the common people attended the two-day Ilm Festival, which commenced here at Expo Center Karachi under the auspices of Jahan-e-Masiha Adbi Forum on Saturday.

The Ilm (Knowledge) Festival was jointly inaugurated by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Farooq Sattar and the senior leader of Jamat-s-Islami (JI) Muhammad Hussain Mehnti while several other personalities including the eminent poet and Managing Director of the National Book Foundation (NBF) Inamul Haq Javed visited the festival and lauded the organizers for organizing a mental as well as physical health activity under one roof.

MQM-P Restoration Committee leader Farooq Sattar who inaugurated the Ilm Festival said he was glad to see that literary activities had restarted after a long time in Karachi and were now being held regularly. “Karachi needs more activities like Ilm festivals to promote its image as a peaceful and vibrant city”, he observed.

Lauding the organizers of the literary festival for the physicians and common people, Farooq Sattar maintained that people of Karachi are very fond of the places where they could go along with their families, acquire books and other literary material for their children and have fun and adding urged the organizers to arrange such fairs in low-income localities of the city also.

JI Sindh Amir Muhammad Hussain Mehnti also visited the Ilm Festival and praised the organizers for holding an excellent literary activity where people were coming with families and purchasing books, especially for their children.

“I have seen people visiting the book stalls with their sons and daughters and purchasing books for them. This is very encouraging to see as in this digital era, children are being given books in their hands instead of electronic gadgets”, Mehnti said and added that in order to combat extremism, more such activities like Ilm festivals were required in the city and the country.

Eminent poet and Managing Director of the National Book Foundation (NBF) Inamul Haq Javed also visited the literary festival and praised the organizers for holding such a unique activity in the heart of the city.

On the other hand, a large number of people attended various health sessions as part of the Ilm Festival where health experts including Yogi Wajahat and Sohail Zindani spoke about physical and mental health while eminent motivational speaker Syed Jamshaid Ahmed spoke on seven habits of highly effective people.

Health screening camps and stalls were also established at the literacy festival by different health organizations and diagnostic services where visitors were screened for Bone Mass Density, Body Mass Index and other health conditions while health experts advised people, especially children to adopt healthy lifestyle to remain fit and healthy.