Death of teacher at hostel triggers protest

PESHAWAR: A young teacher hailing from Chitral was Sunday found dead in a private hostel which sparked protest from the family and well-wishers.

The protesters led by Member National Assembly Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, social worker Sadiq Amin and others gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club.

They placed the body of the deceased on the road to press the authorities and staged a protest to identify the killers and take stern action against them.

According to police, the deceased was a teacher in Royal International School, a private institution, and he has been teaching there for the last five years.

“He was found dead in his room. Apparently, no firearm or any other injury was found on his body. Also, there was no struggling sign in the room where his body was found,” said the police official, adding, “His room was locked from inside.

A person present in the adjacent room was brought to Paharipura Police Station. His both cell phones are with him, money is intact in his purse.”

The body was sent for post-mortem, and they were waiting for a detailed chemical analysis of the body”, said the official.

7th International Hindko Conference on Jan 5-6: The 7th International Hindko Conference will be arranged in the provincial metroplis from January 5 to 6 next year.

To be organised by the literary and cultural organisation, Gandhara Hindko Board, and Gandhara Hindko Academy, the moot will continue for two days.

The theme is “Achieving national unity through the promotion of Hindko and Indo-Aryan languages.”

The board’s Chairman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi will oversee all the arrangements for the literary and cultural event.

Muhammad Ziauddin, general secretary, and Dr Adnan Gul, senior vice-chairman of the board, will be the convener and chief organiser of the conference, respectively.

Literati and academicians from different parts of the country, delegates from the United States, Canada, Britain, Turkey, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates will turn up at the moot.

A Hindko Mushaira (poetry recital session), folk music, painting and calligraphy exhibitions will be part of the conference.

It may be mentioned here that Hindko is among the nine officially recognised languages of Pakistan, others being Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Seraiki, Kashmiri and Brahvi.

It is the second main language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Gandhara Hindko Board has been preserving and promoting Hindko language since its launch in 1993 while the Gandhara Hindko Academy, run by the board, became functional in 2015. The board and the academy have published 300 books so far.