The annual Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest ended in Lahore on Sunday with plenty of great panels and discussions from academics. However, it also put politicians and public officials in the same room with the public leading to multiple chaotic moments.

In a session regarding general elections 2024, titled ‘Facing the Popular Will’, caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi was subjected to laughs as he praised the Supreme Court verdict denying the bat symbol to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Speaking a day after the verdict, Solangi began by saying that it would be more appropriate for a legal expert to comment on the matter.

However, instead of choosing to leave it at that, Solangi said he personally felt it was a good decision as it had set a good precedent.

At this, journalis Hamid Mir, who was sitting next to Solangi restrained his smile as the laughter emerged from the crowd.

‘What a joke,’ a member of the crowd shouted to which Solangi responded that he knew jokes as well.

In another session, titled ‘Parties, Promises and Reality’, PTI’s Senator Waleed Iqbal ended up leaving mid-session after being asked by a member of the audience to name universities and hospitals made in the party’s government.

Iqbal responded by saying he had not claimed that Imran Khan could personally build textile and sugar mills. He added that a good example of the PTI’s performance was its handling of covid as well as the Ehsaas program.

As the competing factions erupted into noise inside the hall, Iqbal said that the important thing was to ‘look forward’. He got and left the hall after compelting his answer.

In the same session, Pakistan Muslim League leader Atta Tarar had to put on a fixed face after Pakistan Peoples Party leader Faisal Mir called General Zia ul Haq the founder of PMLN.

As the crowd burst into applause, modertor Mehmal Sarfraz also had to contain her laughter. Meanwhile, Mir continued to talk about General Zia’s repression of the PPP without skipping a beat.

The Thinkfest is organised annually in Lahore Arts Council and invites speakers to express their ideas on wide range of topics.