NORHT WAZIRISTAN: A girls literary festival was organised for the first time in North Waziristan tribal district to provide a competitive platform to female students and unravel their potential skills through extracurricular activities.

The Adabi Mela, which continued from Feb 12 to 17, comprised of eight different categories, including recitation of Asma-ul-Husna (names of Allah), drawing and painting, Bait Bazi (a genre of poetry), Pashto poetry, declamation contest, Urdu quiz, national songs and essay writing to gauge the competitive skills of the participating students.

A total of 146 students from different schools in the North Waziristan district participated in the event.

The participating students, teachers and the local population appreciated the initiative taken by the security forces and said such events should be organised in future as well.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2023