KP govt urged to set up Hindko depts at three Hazara varsities

MANSEHRA: The participants of a dialogue here on Sunday demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to establish departments for Hindko language studies at three public sector Universities of the Hazara division.

“Hindko is the second widely spoken language in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and first in the Hazara division. The government should establish departments for Hindko studies at Hazara, Abbottabad and Haripur universities for the language promotion,” said Mohammad Ziauddin, general secretary of Gandhara Hindko Board, Peshawar, said while speaking at the dialogue.

The Mansehra chapter of the board had arranged the dialogue titled ‘Role of Hindko literature and culture in the development of the society. Writers, poets, lawyers, traders and other segments of the society attended the function.

Ziauddin said Hindko was an important language of the region that had a history spanning over a long time, adding this was one of the oldest languages still spoken in various parts of the country.

Enumerating the efforts made by the Gandhara Hindko Board, launched for the last 28 years, he said the Hindko language column was introduced in the census form after a court was moved and the order issued for that.

“The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics later inserted the Hindko language column in the form for the first time for the census carried out in 2017,” explained Ziauddin who is a research scholar and author of a number of books and publications.

The president of the board’s Mansehra and Abbottabad chapters, Akhtar Naeem and Professor Nasar Daud, Saibaan organization Chief Executive Officer Sahibzada Jawad Alfaizi, Abdul Rasheed, Shujaat Ali Khan, Iftikhar Alam advocates and others participated in the dialogue.

They backed the demand for setting up the departments for Hindko language studies at the three public universities of the Hazara division and resolved to contribute effectively to the Hindko language, culture and literature promotion efforts.