KP Govt's Support To Hindko Academy Assured

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government's Higher Education Department has assured full support to the Gandhara Hindko Academy in carrying out research pursuits, publication and all other work

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Apr, 2022 ) :The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government's Higher education Department has assured full support to the Gandhara Hindko Academy in carrying out research pursuits, publication and all other work.

"The assurance was given when the Higher Education Department Secretary Daud Khan visited the academy along with other senior officers and received a briefing on the work done and activities undertaken so far in the last seven years", said Muhammad Ziauddin, chief of the Executive Committee of the academy on Wednesday.

He said Secretary Daud Khan was accompanied by Additional Secretary Nasir Khan, Additional Director Dr Qasim Khan and Chief Planning Officer Higher Education Commission islam Afridi.

The delegation was apprised of the performance of the academy which was being run on a public-private partnership basis since the year 2015.

Academy Director Dr Muhammad Adil, board's Executive Committee members Khalid Sultan Khwaja and Muhammad Faheem Siddiqui, research officers and other staff members of the academy were present.

Ziauddin gave a presentation to the delegation members along with the screening of a documentary to enumerate the work to date by the academy funded by the KP government and managed by the Gandhara Hindko Board that had been working for the promotion of the Hindko language since 1993.

"The Hindko Academy is working not only for the preservation and promotion of Hindko but also languages spoken in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country," said Ziauddin who supervises the overall work of the academy.

He said the academy in a short span of seven years had published over 500 books and publications apart from arranging conferences, seminars at the international, national and regional levels along with arranging capacity building trainings.

Ziauddin said the academy regularly brings out journals in Hindko besides funding the publication of literary and cultural magazines of other languages spoken in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa such as Saraiki, Khowar, Torwali, etc.

" The academy has brought into fine print books in multiple languages of Pakistan in a bid to bring the people of various parts of the country closer and strengthen the national unity," said Ziauddin who himself is a Hindko research scholar and has several books to his credit.

KP Higher Education Department Secretary Daud Khan appreciated the work the Hindko Academy has carried out to date.

"All languages spoken in Pakistan belong to us. These languages are a bouquet. Every language is like a flower with distinct beauty and fragrance that must be felt.

The Gandhara Hindko Board and Gandhara Hindko Academy deserve appreciation for work in the promotion of Hindko and other sister languages," said Daud Khan while expressing his views after the presentation.

Ziauddin said the Higher Education Department secretary commended the Gandhara Hindko Academy for establishing linkages with the overseas researchers and engaging them in the research work.

"Research is a highly technical exercise that warrants passion and toil. It is heartening to know that you are doing the required work in this field," said Daud Khan while appreciating the academy's performance.

The Higher Education Department senior officers later visited the Dr Elahi Bakhsh Awan Library. They evinced a keen interest in the books and publications displayed there.

The library is named after a late Hindko language scholar who had done a doctorate in linguistics from the school of African and Oriental Studies, at the University of London in 1974 while conducting research on the Hindko language phonology.

Hailing from Peshawar city, the late lexicographer had compiled a comprehensive Hindko dictionary and authored books on the history and other aspects of Hindko which is the sixth main language of the country and the second most widely spoken language in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.