Gandhara Welfare Trust established

A literary, cultural and social welfare organisation, Gandhara Hindko Board, has set up a full-fledged Gandhara Welfare Trust to reach out to the have-nots. The decision to this effect was taken at the Executive Committee meeting of the board, which was presided over by the chairman of the organisation and former chief secretary of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi.
The participants took a number of decisions keeping in view the mandate of the board that has been working for the preservation and promotion of Hindko language since its launch in 1993 and has to its credit 38 Hindko books.
The General Secretary of the board and in-charge of the Research and Documentation Wing, Mohammad Ziauddin, gave a detailed presentation on the literary, cultural and social welfare work done by the board last year. He said the database of over 3000 members of the board had been prepared. He said the requisite information on the people who had laid down lives at Qissa Khwani on April 23, 1930 had been gathered which would be printed in a book form. He said the board would carry on the work in the light of the vision given by its founding-chairman Professor Dr Zahoor Ahmad Awan (late).
Senior-Vice-Chairman Associate Professor Dr Adnan Gul, said the board had extended co-operation to a non-governmental organisation, Poverty Eradication Initiative (PEI), headed by a philanthropist, Shahid Yousaf, that provided support in kind to the deserving families. He said working with PEI was a great experience and that was the reason that the board had decided to set up Gandhara Welfare Trust to help the poor sections of the society. A Hindko researcher and Vice-Chancellor of City University Professor Dr Anwaar Fazil Chishti explained the structure of the Gandhara Welfare Trust. A United States-based cardio-thoracic surgeon from Peshawar, Professor Dr Syed Amjad Hussain, promised all help to the Trust.
In-charge of Medical Wing and Vice-Chairman of the board, Dr Salahuddin, said his team had taken start by visiting and extending help to the victims after the October 8, 2005 devastating earthquake in Mansehra and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He said with support from the United Kingdom-based Quest for Economic Development (QED-UK), the board held free medical camps in the affected areas after the devastating floods on July 28, 2010. The doctor said more free medical camps would be arranged this year as well.
The Executive Committee approved holding of a Naat contest for the children on January 29, a seminar on February 21 to mark the International Mother Language Day and second Aalmi Hindko Conference in November, this year.
The participants okayed the publication of a book "Bayad-e-Sifwat Ghayyur" by former KPK chief secretary Ejas Raheem which is on the life and work of Frontier Constabulary Commandant Sifwat Ghayyur who died in a terror incident in the line of duty. The book would be in four languages-Hindko, Pashto, Urdu and English.
Chairman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi in his address appreciated the work done by the board so far. He said all the languages warranted respect and no language could be promoted in isolation. The former bureaucrat said the languages were an asset and these should be developed without any bias.
The Chief organiser of the board, Haleem Jan Sethi and other office-bearers also spoke on the occasion and gave suggestions for making the board a more vibrant body. A resolution was passed unanimously to acknowledge the literary services of a noted Hindko writer, research scholar and lexicographer from the University of London, Professor Dr Elahi Bakhsh Awan of Peshawar, who has given the first comprehensive Hindko dictionary and several other research-based books to Hindko language.