Pashto language book ‘Mashaloona’ launched

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) General Secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Wednesday termed the new US policy as disastrous for the region particularly the Pakhtun belt and said it would further prolong the war.

Speaking as chief guest at a book-launching ceremony at Peshawar Press Club here, he said Pashtuns on both sides of the border had been facing war for 35 years and there seemed no end to it. “The new policy should have been focused on taking all the stakeholders into confidence for ending war in Afghanistan,” he stressed.

He said China should play the role of a guarantor for the restoration of peace in the region. “It is unfortunate that Pakhtuns have been ignored in policymaking but the wars are fought on their soil,” he said and added the decades-long war had badly affected the Pashtuns economically, socially and politically.

He said the Pashto language book titled ‘Mashaloona’ that consisted profiles of great nationalist leaders and prominent personalities of the freedom movement during the British-era was a great contribution.

Mian Iftikhar said that it was unfortunate that few Pashtuns read Pashto books. “This book would provide an opportunity to the young generation to know about the life and struggle of their heroes,” he maintained.

He lauded the role of Mashal Radio for compiling such a worthy contribution.

Prof Abaseen Yusufzai, Dr Said Alam Mehsud and Dr Muhammad Suhail also spoke on the occasion. They said the book would familiarise the young generation with the struggle of their forefathers.

The speakers said such books were needed to inform the new generations about their culture, literature and history.

The 2001-page book sheds light on the life and struggle of about two dozen prominent personalities including Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan aka Bacha Khan, Maulana Fazal Mehmood Makhfi, Ajmal Khattak, Qalandar Momand, Saida Bushra Begum, Abdul Aziz Kaka, Master Abdul Karim, Prof Jehanzeb Niaz and Mir Mehdi Shah Bacha.

The book is basically a compilation of the programmes of Mashal Radio. It is aimed at informing the young generation about the heroic struggle of their forefathers against the imperialist forces.  By going through the book one realizes how the Pashtun nationalist leaders launched a peaceful struggle for educating the Pashtuns.

Though a vast majority of the youth know how rich the Pashtun culture is but very few of them would be aware that the land from Indus to Ammu River remained abode to many civilisations like Gandhara. It has not mentioned the launch of movements like ‘Anjuman Islahul Afghana’ and Khudai Khidmatgar Tehrik but by reading the book one can understand that Pashtuns are freedom fighters, not terrorists and extremists.