Dictionary of Hindko-Pashto common words published

PESHAWAR: The Gandhara Hindko Academy has published a dictionary of Hindko-Pashto common words.

The 330-page dictionary is the research work of a young writer and poet, Ali Awais Khayal, who is a research assistant at the Hindko Academy. All the words are in alphabetical order and contain the required information.

The title of the publication, designed by Saqib Hussain, carries the portraits of great Pashto mystic poet Rahman Baba and known Hindko sufi poet Sain Ahmad Ali. A senior Hindko writer, poet and research scholar, Muhammad Ziauddin, has written the foreword to the publication. He has said that being two important languages of the region, Pashto and Hindko have a great linguistic affinity. He says both the languages share words. “A language does not develop in isolation. It borrows words from other fellow languages and keeps on growing by accommodating different words and expressions. Same is the case with the languages spoken in this region,” pointed out Ziauddin while commenting on the Hindko-Pashto dictionary. The writer said Ali Awais Khayal was tasked with the assignment to find out and enlist the words which are shared by Hindko and Pashto languages. “He accomplished the task and presented it in the form of a comprehensive publication which is a laudable work,” said Muhammad Ziauddin who is general secretary of Gandhara Hindko Board, the organization which runs the Gandhara Hindko Academy in partnership with the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Muhammad Ziauddin said the Hindko Academy has already translated the poetry of great Hindko mystic poet Sain Ahmad Ali into Pashto and published the book on martyred senior police officer Safwat Ghayur in Urdu, Pashto and Hindko languages apart from bringing out publications in other Pakistani languages. Ali Awais Khayal in the preface to the publication has said that Pashto and Hindko have several words and expressions which are common in both the languages. He said the Hindko-Pashto dictionary is the first part of his work on the subject. The young researcher said the publication signifies the linguistic affinity of the two languages. He has requested the readers to give him their feedback to the publication so that the valuable recommendations thus received could be included in the next edition.