PESHAWAR: Speakers paid tribute to late Ajmal Khattak during a book launching ceremony at Peshawar Press Club on Friday and said that he was the man who influenced two generations of Pakhtun youth through his revolutionary poetry and prose. He was a true follower of Bacha Khan and advocated his philosophy through his writings, they said. Pakhto Adabi Ghurzang, a Quetta-based literary organisation, arranged the launching ceremony of Ajmal Khattak’s celebrated book ‘Sarey Gunchey’ (Red Boughs), which is a collection of critical essays. Earlier, it was published in Khattak’s life, but was out of market for years.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Hanif Khalil said that Ajmal Khattak was a great visionary who drew inspiration from both Khushal Khan Khattak and Bacha Khan for unification of Pakhtuns against violence and aggression in the society. He was the pioneer of resistance poetry in Pashto as he had initiated a strong progressive movement on the pattern Sajjad Zaheer, an icon of Urdu progressive literary moment, had launched in undivided India which soon became the voice of the downtrodden, Prof Khalil observed.

Dr Khurshid said that Ajmal Khattak had suffered at the hands of his own people. He said Ajmal Baba wanted young people to know about history and culture of Pakhtuns which was replete with sacrifices and courage of heroes who laid lives for this land.

Prof Yar Mohammad Maghmoom Khattak said that Ajmal Baba had also contributed to social and political thought of Pakhtuns. He was not just a poet but a great social reformer who gave a direction to youth to work for the betterment and due rights of their own people, he said. “Ajmal Baba wanted to educate and reform Pakhtun youth to face challenges of the world,” Mr Maghmoom pointed out.

Noorul Amin Yousafzai said that Ajmal Baba being a prolific writer had a deep understanding of Pashtun culture and history.

Aurangzeb Kasi, former ANP activist in Balochistan, said that Ajmal Baba was a poet of purpose and staunch devotee of Bacha who wanted unity of Pashtuns across the Durand line. Prof Alamzeb said that Ajmal Baba’s poetry was universal in strength and needed to be explored.

Farid Toofan was present in the ceremony for sometime, but left without saying anything about Ajmal Khattak. Similarly, when Mian Iftikhar Hussain was invited on the stage to present his views he declined to comment and later he protested to the organisers, arguing that the ceremony was a sheer injustice as he alleged it was a critical analysis of the ANP rather than a literary function.

Arbab Khizar Hayat, Moazam Jan, Dr Zaheer Afridi, Anwar Manirwal, Ilyas Talwaal, Haroon Khattak, Faisal Faran and Ishtiaq also spoke on the occasion. Aimal Khattak, son of late Ajmal Khattak, said that the aim of the ceremony was to invite people from all walks of life, including political workers to express their views about his father. “I had invited Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and JUI-F’s Jalil Jan to this function but they did not turn up because of their political engagements,” he said.