The Gandhara Hindko Academy (GHA), Peshawar has reprinted 13 rare books on history, culture and archaeology penned by late scholar Sardar Muhammad Jaffar who was popularly known as SM Jaffar.

A distinguished Peshawar-based Hindko language writer and poet, Muhammad Ziauddin, and an eminent research scholar from Islamabad, Ahmad Salim, joined hands to accomplish the task with the joint-supervision, according to a press release issued here on Sunday.

Ahmad Salim in the foreword to the reprinted books has spotlighted well the life and work of the late author who had to his credit over 100 books and several manuscripts. He lamented that little information was available on SM Jaffar although he had made immense contributions to the study of the history of this part of this region.

Muhammad Ziauddin, who is also the Chief of the Executive Committee of Gandhara Hindko Academy said these landmark publications of SM Jaffar were published a long time ago and had gone out of print with time.

"I felt the dire need to reprint the work of this legendary scholar to shift this treasure-trove to the young generation and even posterities. The Hindko Academy is highly indebted to the great intellectual, Ahmad Salim sahib, and family members of SM Jaffar sahib for the help they extended to me in carrying out this task," said Ziauddin who specializes in the documentation and is Deputy Director at the Documentation Wing of the Cabinet Division, Islamabad.

He said the books of SM Jaffar reprinted by the Hindko Academy include "History of history," "The Mughal Empire - From Babar To Aurangzeb," " Some cultural aspects of Muslim rule in India", " Medieval India under Muslim kings, The rise and fall of The Ghaznavids", " Peshawar Past and Present", "Education in Muslim India", "Indian historical records", "The classification of records - Pakistani system", "Historical wealth of North-West Frontier Province (Pakistan)", "Kashmir sold and resold", "Views and Reviews on the Peshawar Museum", "An introduction to the Peshawar Museum" and "Islamic culture its ideological basis".

It may be mentioned here that affectionately called Jaffar Lala, Sardar Mohammad Jaffar is considered one of the most prominent names of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa historical and archaeological literature.

His father Sardar Mohammad Sadiq, a businessman, hailed from a Qizilbash clan that had migrated from Persia. The family later chose Peshawar as its abode after having been to other parts of the subcontinent.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019