Samandar Khan remembered for services to Pashto

NOWSHERA: Speakers on Sunday paid rich tributes to noted Pashto research scholar, Samandar Khan Samandar, for his literary services.

They were addressing a special function arranged at the Government High School No 1 Cantonment.Dr Nasir Khan, principal of the school, presided over the function.Those who addressed on the occasion included Dr Nood Muhammad, Dr Abdullah Jan Abid, Dr Muhammad Tariq, Mian Sajid Ali Shah Shibli, Imran Samandar and Muhammad Azhar (sons of Samandar Khan Samandar) and others.

They hailed Samundur Khan Samandar as a great scholar of the Pashto language who rendered great services to Pashto despite facing financial difficulties in his early life.

The speakers said he was appointed script writer when a radio station was set up in Peshawar in 1935. They said Samandar Khan Samandar worked hard to promote the Pashto language and the culture.

The late scholar’s work for the Pashto promotion from the radio was spotlighted as well by naming the programmes which he had introduced during his service at the radio station.The speakers highlighted other works of the late scholar such as translation of Persian poetry into Pashto.

They were critical of the Pashto Academy of the University of Peshawar and the Directorate of Archives for not bringing into print the unpublished works of Samandar Khan Samandar.The speakers pointed out that he had authored 70 books but only 14 were published and the remaining had been lying with the Pashto Academy and Directorate of Archives for the last 34 years. They asked where the government funds meant for Pashto were being spent and called for publishing the books of Samandar Khan Samandar.