PESHAWAR, Oct 30: The Gandhara Hindko Board, a literary-cum-cultural organization, organized an open-air Hindko Naatia Mushaira here on Saturday night.

The scion of a distinguished religious family of Peshawar, Taj Agha, was the chief guest at the event which was chaired by noted Hindko poet Professor Khatir Ghaznavi.

According to a press release issued here on Sunday, 30 poets from different districts of the province, including Peshawar, Nowshera, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan and Hazara region, turned up and expressed their reverence for Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Haji Mohammad Haleem Jan, chief organiser, assistant professor Dr Adnan Gul, vice-chairman, and Mohammad Ziauddin, secretary for the Gandhara Hindko Board, welcomed the participants. The board office-holders called for efforts both from the public and private sectors for the preservation and promotion of Hindko language and Hindkowan culture. They also asked people to make the two-day Hindko conference scheduled in Peshawar for 19th and 20th of November a success by extending all help to the Gandhara Hindko Board in making arrangements for the same.

Taj Agha said Naat as a source of expression of love and respect for Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and praised the Gandhara Hindko Board for regularly arranging Hindko Naatia Mushaira in the holy month of Ramazan. “Such sittings are urgently needed to turn people towards positive activities,” he said.

A member of the NWFP Assembly from Peshawar, Syed Zahir Ali Shah, Nazim of Peshawar district, Haji Ghulam Ali, and Nazim of Town 1, Haji Shaukat Ali, also joined the gathering when it was nearing the end. In their brief speeches, all the three praised the Gandhara Hindko Board for carrying out literary and cultural activities. They pledged all-out support to the board in holding the grand Hindko conference next month.

Terming the Oct 8 quake a great hour of trial, the board’s secretary, Mohammad Ziauddin, said the office-holders and members of the board had made a contribution towards the welfare of quake victims without going public. Mr Ziauddin later led special prayers for the victims.

In the early 1940s, Hindko poetic sittings used to be a distinctive feature of the cultural life of Peshawar. Yakatoot Chowk was one of the favourite spots for such gatherings. The Gandhara Hindko Board, which is working for the preservation and promotion of Hindko language and Hindkowan culture for the last 12 years, has revived this old tradition by regularly holding Naatia Mushaira in the heart of the walled city of Peshawar.