The 7th International Hindko Conference will be arranged in the provincial metropolis from January 5 to 6 next year. To be organized 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 organizer 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.