PESHAWAR: The participants of an annual cultural festival here on Saturday asked students to volunteer services for promoting the cause of literary and cultural diversity through engaging in positive activities on the campus towards building a forward-looking society.

The annual event titled ‘Khukla Da Pakhtunkhwa’ (the beauty of Pakhtunkhwa) was organised under the banner of Pashto Society Edwardes College at its hockey ground. Visitors including students, teachers, rights activists and old alumni attended the event and showered the organisers of the event with accolades of appreciation.

The special guest, who paid visit to the historic college was Iqbal Hussain Khan, the high commissioner of Bangladesh, who took a round of different stalls and appreciated student organisers of the event.

Brigadier Ali Asghar, former federal minister Noorulhaq Qadri and former chief of Council of Islamic Ideology Prof Qibla Ayaz were also among the guests.

Around 30 stalls were set up at the event, showcasing tangible and intangible culture across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including traditional foods and beverages, bookstalls, handicrafts, dresses and footwear while live Pashto music and a thrilling free Tanga ride were main features of cultural festival.

Attired in cultural dresses, groups of students took several rounds of Waziri, Kakari and Khattak attnr (traditional dance) and garnered huge applause from the audience. Edwardians hailing from almost all parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including tribal districts displayed indigenous culture of their respective areas through well-organised stalls and lent beauty to the annual event.

Opening the mega festival, the trio of Prof Sareer Ahmad, patron-in-chief and student chief of Pashto society, Faridun Khan and general secretary Babar Khan called upon students to come forward for contributing to society by volunteering their services and help advance the cause of cultural diversity.

Aleena Mukhtar, a young artist displaying the stall of artworks by student-arts, told this scribe that cultural festival gave an impetus to craft innovative art pieces as they received appreciation from visiting guests.

Usman Wazir, a student, said that he and his friends learnt a lot about different shades and layers of KP cultural diversity. He added that such events helped people from diverse cultural backgrounds to come together and promote social cohesion.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2025