Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 2 (ANI): Renowned authors from around the globe are participating in the fourth edition of the Kovalam Literary Festival, which kicked off here on Saturday.
The two-day festival will feature an international panel of authors from countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Israel.
Pakistani author and activist Fatima Bhutto, who was the chief guest on the occasion spoke on the differences that existed between India and Pakistan, in spite of the shared history between the two countries.
"Despite our shared heritage, culture, history, languages and memories, both India and Pakistan have managed to create enormous gulfs between their people," she said.
Bhutto said the present generation had received a sense of mutual hostility from a generation before, which hampered cooperation between the two neighbouring countries.
"And there's no free exchange of services because of political hostilities that precede our generation by decades, hostilities that none of us had a hand in creating, but all of us have been lazily perpetuating. Some of us, I suppose, less lazily than others," she said.
Bhutto also spoke of the recent floods in Pakistan. She blamed the government for not doing its bit to relieve those who were affected by the floods.
"It's very sad, because at the moment, we have devastating floods in the country. There are eight million people affected by flooding, just in one province, in Sindh. Crops have been destroyed," said Bhutto.
"People don't have food to eat, people can't afford to eat, and what we see the government doing in Pakistan, is just defending itself, just fighting for money, for support and not for the people and I think that's the real tragedy at the moment," she added.
According to officials of Pakistan's Meteorological Department, the rains witnessed in Sindh province during the four weeks of August and September this year were the highest ever recorded and this downpour was preceded by severe drought conditions. (ANI)
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