Malik Ahmad Baba Yousafzai’s life, services to be rembered

PESHAWAR: The life and services of Malik Ahmad Baba, the chief of the Yousafzai tribe, would be highlighted at a forthcoming function during which his rebuilt mausoleum in Malakand district would be inaugurated.
His mausoleum is at Allahdhand Dheray village near Batkhela. For years his grave was simple and largely unknown, but the previous Awami National Party (ANP)-led provincial government under Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti sanctioned funds and a beautiful mausoleum was built.
The work is now complete and it would be inaugurated at a function by his graveside on May 10. The Malik Ahmad Baba Memorial Committee has finalized preparations for holding this function. Noted paediatrician Dr Abdul Hameed, who belongs to Allahdhand village, Engineer Ejaz Yousafzai and Abaseen Yousafzai, a Pashto scholar, are the most active members of the committee.
Malik Ahmad Baba, who died in 1535, was 14 years old when the elders of the Yousafzai tribe were killed in the court of the Kabul Governor Ulugh Beg Mirza, who conspired to trap them by inviting them to a feast.
Malik Ahmad Baba later brought his tribe to the Peshawar valley and led them to victory over the Dilazak tribe. He later gained control of parts of Malakand, Swat and other districts.
An international seminar would also be held on May 10 at the Fishing Hut rest house located by the banks of the river Swat in Chakdara. Professor Mohammad Nawaz Tair, a noted educationist, would preside over the seminar.
Well-known Afghan and Pakistani scholars would present their papers on the life and times of Malik Ahmad Baba. They include Ustad Habibullah Rafi and Ustad Asif Sameem from Afghanistan, and Prof Yar Mohammad Maghmoom, Noorul Amin Yousafzai and Sadiq Sreek from Pakistan.
Noted scholars Prof Mohammad Islam Armani, Dr Abdul Khaliq Ziyar, Qasim Jan Lala, Arif Tabassum and Raziq Faheem would also speak on the occasion. Poets Prof Aseer Mangal, Mohammad Hanif Qais, Rokhan Yousafzai, Prof Iqbal Shakir and Prof Nawaz Yousafzai would present their poems at the seminar.
The organizers have sent out about 500 invitations to notables of Yousafzai and
other Pakhtun tribes and to members of the intelligentsia. Poets and writers from all over
Pakistan and from Afghanistan would be attending the event.
The Thana Adabi Tolana based in Thana town of Malakand district, Marastial Leekwal Malakand and Pukhtana Adabi Malgari, Batkhela would be assisting the Malik Ahmad Baba Memorial Committee in organizing the functions at Allahdhan Dheray and Chakdara.
This is the first time that Malik Ahmad Baba is being remembered at such a big scale. He was mostly forgotten but now a major effort is being made to revive his name and highlight his achievements. The Malik Ahmad Baba Memorial Committee has described him as a Pakhtun national hero, the leader of the Yousafzai tribe and the founder of Pakhtunkhwa.