By Syed Ali Shah

Dawn Sep 14  2015

Chief of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP), Mehmood Khan Achakzai (C) was among those attending the coference. — Photo by author

Speakers at the World Pashto Conference spoke at length on the importance of mother-languages and urged the federal government to grant national and official status to all languages in the country. ─ Photo by author

QUETTA: Writers, poets, intellectuals, authors and literary figures have demanded the government to make Pashto an official and educational language.

Speakers at the World Pashto Conference spoke at length on the importance of mother-languages and urged the federal government to grant national and official status to all languages in the country.

Pashto Academy Quetta organised a three-day Pashto International Conference "Pashto Language and Globalisation, Challenges and Possibilities" at a local hotel in Quetta on Saturday.

Governor Balochistan Muhammad Khan Achakzai while inaugurating the conference termed the mother-language imperative for the promotion of education and success of a society.

Renowned Pashto literary personalities from Kabul, Kandahar, Canada, Germany and various parts of the world participated in the conference, which thoroughly discussed history, the importance of, and challenges to, the Pashto language.

Prominent among those who participated in the Conference were Pashto Academy President Syed Khair Muhammad Arif, Muhammad Masoom Hotak from Canada, Wali Muhammad Achakzai from Germany, Habibullah Rafi from Kabul Afghanistan, Professor Dr. Fazal Rahim Marwat, Vice Chancellor Bacha Khan University Charsada, Abdul Ghafoor Lewal from Afghanistan and others.

"Committed nations make their dead languages alive," Muhammad Khan Achakzai said while referring to various ancient languages around the globe. He pointed out that Pashto was neither an educational nor official language, but Pashto-loving personalities were still publishing books in Pashto, despite the odds.

The chief of Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Mehmood Khan Achakzai, said that throughout the history Pashtoons have not believed in sectarianism neither were they terrorists, rather they always stood for peace and development.

Achakzai expressed these views while addressing World Pashto Conference. "We were and are peace loving people", he told literary figures and political workers gathered at the three-day World Conference.

The Pashtoon nationalist leader stated that slogans of terrorism and extremism were propagated against Pashtoons just to malign them in comity of nations. He urged upon intellectuals, poets and authors to play their pivotal role in promoting peace and love in the society.

The work of literary personalities is to represent the society and create awareness among the people, he said.

"Pashtoons now strive for peace, despite odds", he added. He however claimed that destroying entire Waziristan because of the presence of what he claimed only 2 percent banned TTP was beyond imagination.

Mehmood Achakzai thus stated that instead of constructing Kala Bagh Dam, the government has to construct Khushhal Biraj Dam to avoid any controversy.

Pashto writers, poets, intellectuals, journalists and authors presented their papers during the conference and thoroughly shed light on the history and importance of Pashto language. "Everyone has to work hard for promotion of Pashto," Habibullah Rafi, a writer from Afghanistan told the participants of the conference. The conference will continue till September 14.