PESHAWAR: Speakers at a function here on Saturday demanded of the authorities to make functional Hamza Baba Cultural Complex in Landi Kotal for literary activities and set up Hamza chair at University of Peshawar.

The culture committee of Peshawar Press Club and Hamza Baba Adabi Society (HBAS) jointly organised the function to mark the 21st death anniversary of renowned Pashto Sufi poet Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari, known as Baba-i-Pashto ghazal.

Speakers urged young scholars to conduct research on hidden aspects of Hamza Baba. They said that research on scientific line should be carried out on all great Sufi poets and their literary works.

The participants, through five different resolutions, demanded that Hamza Baba Cultural Complex in Landi Kotal, Khyber Agency should be made functional by handing it over to a government department.

They also demanded provision of required staff for the complex and opening a Hamza research cell/chair at University of Peshawar and translation in English and republication of all books of the legendary Sufi poet.

Manzoor Ali Shinwari, a local poet asked the political administration of Khyber Agency, to make arrangements for the existing Hamza Baba Cultural Complex so that it could be made fully functional and utilised for public use.

Research scholars and intellectuals read out papers to highlight various aspects of the Sufi poet and his contribution to Pashto language and literature. They said that Hamza Baba’s Sufi thoughts needed to be spread and conveyed to young generation for guidance and enlightenment.

Syed Tahir Bukhari Bacha, senior writer and spiritual descent of Hamza Baba, was chief guest on the occasion. He said that Hamza Baba’s spiritual message carried by his poetry and prose needed to be rendered into English and other languages.

He said that in today time of mental chaos and spiritual decadence, world people were in dire need of a ‘light within’. He said that he had rendered six prose books of the Sufi poet into Urdu which would benefit only Urdu speaking people.

Published in Dawn March 1st , 2015

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