Moot concludes with pledge to promote native languages & cultures of Chitral

CHITRAL: “Seventh Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Languages Conference” concluded here with the pledge to make efforts for promotion of languages and cultures of the Chitral district. The conference was titled, “Pledge to promote all the languages and cultures of Chitral.”

The moot was the joint effort of the Gandhara Hindko Board, Gandhara Hindko Academy and Anjuman Tarraqi-e-Khowar. The venue was the District Council Hall of the Chitral district. Muhammad Ziauddin, a noted Hindko writer, poet and research scholar, was the coordinator for the conference. Mohkamuddin, a senior journalist, was the convener and Shehzada Tanveerul Mulk deputy convener of the moot, which had various segments.

Muhammad Yousaf Shehzad moderated the first session of the conference. Shehzada Iftikharul Mulk presided over the session. Member National Assembly from Chitral, Shehzada Iftikharuddin, was the chief guest.

Waseeuddin Aakaash moderated the second session. Khalid Jameel presided over. District Nazim Mafghirat Shah was the chief guest. Literati representing various languages spoken in the Chitral district turned up at the event to highlight the importance of respective languages and cultures. A total of 15 papers were read pertaining to various languages of Chitral. 

The papers highlighted the importance of various languages in Chitral, which is the largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, constituting 20 per cent of the total area of the province.

An all languages poetry recital session was arranged in the third session of the conference. The people had an opportunity to listen to poetic verses of various native languages of Chitral. The folk music of the respective languages was the part of the moot. The audience liked the songs and musical instruments playing.

MNA Shehzada Iftikharuddin said Chitral was home to 14 languages and of these Khowar was the most widely spoken one.  The lawmaker used the opportunity to talk about various development projects being undertaken in Chitral. He said the next budget would have Rs 40billion allocation for different uplift projects in Chitral.

The MNA said the Chitral district would have optic fibre facility in a year. “A 30 megawat hydel power project will be launched to address the power shortage issue. The Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University and Abdul Wali Khan University in Chitral will have three new departments each in the near future,” said Shehzada Iftikharuddin.

The federal legislator was all-praise for the Gandhara Hindko Board, Gandhara Hindko Academy and Anjuman Tarraqi-e-Khowar for arranging the conference in Chitral that highlighted importance of the native languages and cultures.

Gandhara Hindko Board Vice-Chairman Dr Salahuddin said the organization had been working for the preservation and promotion of the Hindko language since its launch in 1993. He said the board wants promotion of all the languages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as it believed in the universal principle of unity in diversity.

Gandhara Hindko Board General Secretary Muhammad Ziauddin said headed by a former chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, the board had expanded the scope of literary and cultural activities by providing a platform to other languages and cultures as well.

Ziauddin said the board had arranged such conferences in Haipur (Hazara), Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan and Behrain (Swat) and received a highly encouraging response. Shields were distributed among the participants at the end of the conference.