PESHAWAR: The literary and cultural organisations here on Sunday welcomed the announcement of conferring the most coveted President’s civil awards of Pride of Performance on the prominent artists and folk singers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The awards and commendation shields would be given away to the personalities in recognition of their selfless services in their respective fields on March 23 next year.

The recipients of the Pride of Performance award from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as announced on Saturday by President Dr Arif Alvi on the occasion of 75th Independence Day, included octogenarian TV actor Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, veteran folk singer Qamro Jan Bibi, instrumentalist Ejaz Sarhadi and folk artists Shakila Naz and Shaukat Mahmood.

The award was also announced posthumously for the noted Karachi- based Pashto fiction writer, Tahir Afridi, who passed away at the age of 82 in Karachi on June 5, 2021 after battling with coronavirus.

He was the author of over two dozen books of Pashto and Urdu.

Heads of several literary and cultural organisations praised the conferring of the most prestigious awards on literarti and musicians belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, asking the KP government to implement its cultural policy in letter and spirit towards ameliorating the miserable condition of the local writers and artists.

Hunari Tolana Welfare Society (HTWS) chief Rashid Khan said in a statement here on Sunday that recognition of the contributions of the literarti and musicians was a commendable step and the artist community welcomed the move of the President.

However, he said that the provincial government should also put its rhetoric into action when it came to helping out writers and folk artists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Noted writer Prof Abaseen Yousafzai told this scribe that all the recipients of the presidential award fully deserved the honour especially TV actor Mumtaz Ali Shah, folk artist Qamro Jan Bibi and fiction master Tahir Afridi (late).

He said that poets, writers and artists were always being looked upon as the cultural ambassadors of the country and should be encouraged and helped.

When contacted, Pashto folk singer Qamro Jan Bibi, a resident of Mardan district, said that the announcement of the prestigious award on Saturday brought her spiritual happiness.

“I am in the twilight of my life and have been bedridden for the last many years, but the President’s award gave me a hope to live a few more happy moments,” Ms Jan said in a joyful tone.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2021