PESHAWAR: The newly launched Gandhara Hindko Academy has initiated work on the third Hindko dictionary along with several other books and publications.

This was stated by chief of executive committee of Gandhara Hindko Academy and general secretary of Gandhara Hindko Board Mohammad Ziauddin while speaking at a meeting arranged at the nascent research body.

He said Hindko was second main language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and sixth largely spoken language of the country but it remained neglected in the past for a variety of reasons.

“This compelled a group of young, educated and dedicated writers to come forward and launch Gandhara Hindko Board in 1993 for promotion of the language,” said Mr Ziauddin.

He said that demand for a Hindko academy had existed for over five decades. He said that at last the previous provincial government realised importance of it and approved the project of Gandhara Hindko Academy.

“The present provincial government took a commendable step by implementing the plan on public-private partnership basis. The governed tasked the Gandhara Hindko Board with managing the affairs of the academy,” he added.

Other participants of the meeting also spoke on the occasion and some of them gave useful suggestions both for ongoing and future literary activities.

Prof Syed Anwar Shah, the director of Gandhara Hindko Academy, told the meeting that in a short span the academy developed a font to standardise the orthography of the language and launched work on 100 books and publications.

He said that regular publications by the academy, which were set to be printed, included “Hindko Adab”, “Sarkhel”, “Hindkowan” “ Gandhara Voice” and “Taarey”.

Hina Tahir, a researcher at the academy, said that among the books to be published this year were “Safar-i-Mubarak”, second edition of “ Hindko Charbatey Dey Rango-o-Rang Nadarey”, “Haqayaat-e-Saadi” and “Quran Fehmi”. These books are by Raja Haider Zaman Haider, a Hindko writer from Abbottabad in Hazara division.

Ms Tahir said that the academy would also publish a book on archaeological sites of Hazara titled “Hazarey Dey Aasaar-i-Qadeema” by Prof Bashir Ahmad Soz, “Phulan Dee Satt” by Prof Nasir Daud of Hazara and a book of Hindko poetry, “Sochaan Dee Mundri” by Prof Yahya Khalid of the Hazara division.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2015

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