PESHAWAR: Participants of a function on Friday showered romantic Pashto poet and senior writer Abaseen Yousafzai with praise for his services to the Pashto literature over the last three decades.

The members of Pohantoon Adabi Stori, a literary body, gathered at a local hotel here to honour Mr Yousafzai for his contributions to the Pashto language and literature. His third poetry collection ‘Maraam’ was formally launched on the occasion.

Fitrat Buneri, chief organiser of the event, while greeting the guests said that key quality of Abaseen was punctuality and young students had not only drawn inspiration from his poetry, but also from his personality traits. “You see all the guests and participants reached the venue of the event on time displayed on the invitation cards unlike our political leaders,” he said, adding that Mr Yousafzai trained and polished the new talent.

A large number of university students, delegates from Quetta, Afghanistan, Fata and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attended the event.

Pohantoon Adabi Stori holds function to honour the Pashto poet and writer

The speakers said that Mr Yousafzai enjoyed widespread fame across the Durand Line for his lively and purposeful poetry. They said that Abaseen was a known voice on radio, a prominent face on TV and a widely read word in print because of his charismatic personality and sublime poetry.

A Pashto musical concert was also held in which folk singers Master Ali Haider, Bakhtiar Khattak, Aslam Salik, Shaukat Swati, Fayyaz Kheshgi and Tariq Hussain sang popular numbers of Mr Yousafzai.

Addressing as chief guest, senior researcher Hamesh Khalil said poets like Abaseen gained public stamp because they ruled over their hearts and minds by giving due place to their problems in their poetry and prose.

Fiction writer Zaitoon Bano said she always found Mr Yousafzai a genuine spirit working for promoting social and cultural values of Pakhtuns.

Salim Raz, chairman World Adabi Conference, remarked that Mr Yousafzai served as an academy for budding literati and popularised book culture everywhere he went.

Haseena Gul, a poetess, said in her paper that Mr Yousafzai not only groomed male poets and writers, but also encouraged female writers to express their views freely.

Noorul Amin Yousafzai, a writer from Swabi, said that Mr Yousafzai was equally respected among Urdu, Hindko and Pashto literary circles because of his unbiased attitude.

Tayyab Shaheen, a young Afghan poet, said that progressive poets and writers like Ajmal Khattak, Shamsul Qamar Andesh, Rahmat Shah Sail, Qalandar Momand, and Dr Israr were all read and revered in Afghanistan, but Mr Yousafzai had a considerable following for his youthful poetic style.

Sher Jan, poet and teacher at Kabul University, said that poets and writers could play a vital role in bringing Pakhtuns on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border closer together.

Samina Qadir, a member of Women Writers Forum’s KP chapter, said that Mr Yousafzai was a widely travelled and extensively read poet who stood for a truthful representation of his community.

Dr Nasarullah Jan Wazir, Dr Yar Mohammad Maghmoom, Iqbal Shakir, Dr Sher Zaman Seemab, Prof Aseer Mangal, Yasmeen Waziri, Farooq Shah, Rokhan Yousafzai , Dr Izharullah Izhar , Zafar Ali Niaz and Ilyas Thalwaal also spoke on various aspects of Abaseen Yousafzai and his poetry.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2016