Lahore Literary Festival to begin on Saturday

LAHORE: The Lahore Literary Festival will begin on Saturday instead of Friday as planned after the City District Government restored a No Objection Certificate (NOC) it had cancelled earlier and has assured the organizers of security presence.

The City District Government Lahore had cancelled a No Objection Certificate (NOC) it had granted the organizers of the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) for holding the event, citing grave security concerns. 

The Withdrawal

On Wednesday evening a letter addressed to the organizer – with copies also sent to the police administration and the Lahore Arts Council executive director – from the office of the DCO Lahore (dated 30 January 2016) began circulating, announcing the cancellation of the NOC, citing security threats.

At the time, with delegations already having started arriving in Lahore to participate in the festival, the spokesman for LLF had announced in Wednesday evening that the three-day program would begin according to schedule on Friday