PESHAWAR, May 20: Speakers at a literary gathering paid rich tribute to Sain Ahmed Ali, a Hindko language mystic poet, for his keen observation of social milieu and portrayal of the townsfolks.

The meeting was organized by the Gandhara Hindko Adbi Board at the Peshawar Press Club on Sunday.

Malik Zahid Hussain, president of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce, Syed Mohammed Hasnain Gilani, Nazim of Jehangirpura, Prof Zahoor Ahmed Awan, Haider Zaman Haider, Prof Taha Khan, Ahmed Paracha, Qari Javed Iqbal and other read out their papers and spoke on the poetry of Sain Ahmed Ali.

Ashraf Ulfat, Muhktiar Ahmed, Mushtaq Ahmed and others recited allegorical poems of Sain, a new thing for the present generation of the Hindko speaking town.

Sufi Sain Ahmed Ali, born in 1842 and died in 1937, became a legendary figure for his sharp portrayal of human feelings and his command over the arrangement of words, metaphors and allegories.

Some senior citizens, who have learnt his poems by heart, used to recite Sain’s seh-harfi (Hiku-style poems), reflecting odds of nature, love affairs, mystic experiences, puzzle of impermanence, whiff of ambition and haze of ill-mannered materialism crushing human innocence under its heavy feet.

They said Sain Ahmed Ali was born in Peshawar, but, later, he moved to Rawalpindi and settled in Pothohar region. He is equally popular in Peshawar and Rawalpindi. He was a mystic poet and his poetry had earned a status of folklore.

Malik Zahid said the nature cared of those who believed in the labour. The labour held an undiminishing place in any society, he added.

He urged the people to take a lesson from the sayings of Sain in which the great mystic of the 19th Century emphasised on the fruits of labour. He urged the nostalgia-ridden people to make a retrospective assessment of their failures and come out of the romantic shell of the past.

Syed Hasnain Gilani said once Peshawar was known as a city of roses, apricots, plumes and civility, but all had been lost. “The city of Sain has lost its glory. It has lost its identity and its residents have deprived of their culture”, he added.

Prof Zahoor Ahmed Awan asked the NWFP government to establish a Hindko Chair on the University of Peshawar forthwith and save the historic language from extinction.

He said the Hindko language dictionary, being compiled by the GHAB, would be put on the sale soon after its completion.