The newly-launched Gandhara Hindko Academy has initiated work on the third Hindko dictionary along with several other books and publications. This was stated by a noted Hindko writer, poet research scholar and Chief Executive Committee of the Gandhara Hindko Academy and General Secretary of the Gandhara Hindko Board, Muhammad Ziauddin. He was speaking at meeting arranged at the nascent research body to orientate the staff members on the efforts launched so far for the promotion of the Hindko language, literature, culture. The future plans for the promotion of Hindko and other provincial languages were also shared at the meeting.
Ziauddin said Hindko is second main language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and six largely spoken language of the country but remained neglected in the past for various reasons. "This compelled a group of young, educated and dedicated writers to come forward and launch the Gandhara Hindko Board in 1993 for the language promotion," he explained.
He said the board launched the Hindko promotion work on purely self-help basis but with the passage of time the volume of literary and cultural activities grew as the people continued to put trust in the board for its literary and cultural pursuits.
"This helped us to bring into fine print 70 books and publications, conduct a host of activities, including Hindko literary and cultural conferences at district, provincial, national and international level," the research scholar elaborated.
"Among these books were two Hindko dictionaries and a rare versified translation of the Holy Quran into Hindko. The first Hindko dictionary was compiled by noted Hindko writer, poet and research scholar, Sultan Sakoon, from Abbottabad in Hazara Division. He is now providing more words and phrases to the Gandhara Hindko Academy to bring out the second edition of his Hindko dictionary," said Ziauddin, who has been the General Secretary of the Gandhara Hindko Board for the last 22 years and has five research-based books to his credit, apart from overseeing the publications brought out by the board and convening all Hindko conferences. Ziauddin said the demand for a Hindko Academy had existed for over five decades. He said at long last the former Awami National Party-Pakistan People's Party coalition government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa realised the importance of this important language and approved the project of the Gandhara Hindko Academy.
"The present Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government took a commendable step by implementing the plan on public-private partnership basis. The governed tasked the Gandhara Hindko Board with managing the affairs of the academy" he added.
"It was a moment of joy for all those who speak the Hindko language when Finance Minister Muzaffar Said of the Jamaat-e-Islami mentioned the establishment of the Gandhara Hindko Academy in his budget speech in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly," said the research scholar who was nominated and requested unanimously by the official Executive Committee to offer services and co-ordinate the research activities in return for honorarium at the Gandhara Hindko Academy during his off-duty days because of his rich experience in the field and in acknowledgement of his work.
Other participants of the meeting also spoke on the occasion and some of them gave useful suggestions both for ongoing and future literary activities.
Director of Gandhara Hindko Academy, Professor Syed Anwar Shah, told the meeting that the academy had sit down to organised research after becoming functional recently. He said in a short span the academy had developed a font to standardise the orthography of the language, and launched work on 100 books and publications.
The director, who comes from a literary family and has earned a name as an academician while serving several higher education institutions, said regular publications by the academy which are set to be printed include "Hindko Adab", "Sarkhel", "Hindkowan" " Gandhara Voice" and "Taarey".
Researcher at the academy, Hina Tahir, said among the books to be published this year are "Safar-e-Mubarak" , Second edition of " Hindko Charbatey Dey Rango-o-Rang Nadarey", "Haqayaat-e-Saadi" and "Quran Fehmi". These books, she added, are by Raja Haider Zaman Haider, a distinguished Hindko writer, poet and research scholar from Abbottabad in Hazara division.
Hina Tahir said the academy will also publish a book on archaeological sites of Hazara -"Hazarey Dey Aasaar-e-Qadeema"- by Professor Bashir Ahmad Soz, "Phulan Dee Satt" by Professor Nasir Daud of Hazara and a book of Hindko poetry, "Sochaan Dee Mundri" by Professor Yahya Khalid of the Hazara Division.