Ajmal Khattak remembered

PESHAWAR, Feb 6: Provincial Minister for Culture, Information and Transport Mian Iftikhar Hussain said here on Sunday that vacuum created after demise of eminent Pashto poet and politician, Ajmal Khan Khuttak, could not be filled for long and eulogised his matchless services for Pakhtuns.

He was addressing a public gathering on the occasion of the first anniversary of veteran politician Ajmal Khattak held at Khushal Khan Khattak Library in Akora Khattak.

Senator Haji Adeel, ANP provincial secretary general Tajuddin, ANP veteran Afzal Khan Lala, Saadullah Jan Burq, political workers and elders of the area attended the function.

Mian Iftikhar said Ajmal Khattak was torch-bearer in the struggle for rights of Pakhtuns and rendered great services for providing and protecting rights of neglected segments of the society. —APP

Road rebuilt in Swat

PESHAWAR, Feb 6: Provincial IT Minister Mohammad Ayub Khan on Sunday inaugurated a road in Matta tehsil of Swat that was reconstructed at Rs12.1 million.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony in Swat, he said that the government accords high priority to repair and reconstruction of damaged roads, bridges and other infrastructure in Swat.

The damaged infrastructure would be constructed without compromising on quality, he added.

He said law and order situation had been improving in Swat where reconstruction activities were in full swing.

“The cancer of militancy and terrorism had badly affected our economy, tourism and culture and our struggle for eliminating the menace would continue.”

He said that Swat's original grandeur would be restored, as revival of tourism in the picturesque valley was government’s top priority.—APP

Olympic association

PESHAWAR, Feb 6: Master Dilawar Khan and Mohammad Shafique were elected as president and general secretary of FR Kohat Darra Adam Khel Olympic Association, respectively, in an election held here at Qayyum Sports Complex on Sunday.

Former international athlete and sports manager of the FR Kohat Darra Adam Khel, Noor Aslam Afridi, and representatives from 15 different games were also present on the occasion.

The other office-bearers included Malik Habib (chief patron), Surab Gul (senior vice president), Usman Ali (vice president), Mohammad Shafique (general secretary), Dil Nawaz and Shah Nawaz (joint secretaries), Matiullah Khan (finance secretary) and Tufail Khan (press secretary). Wahad Khan was elected as chairman of the executive committee. —APP

Women poetry

CHITRAL, Feb 6: First female poet of Chitral, Rahima Naz, on Sunday underlined the need for incentives and encouragement for womenfolk to work for promotion of art, literature and poetry in the society.

Expressing optimism to bring revolution in Chitral in terms of poetry and literary work, she told APP that today's problems could be addressed by promoting the culture of dialogue, fiction and literature in society that was imperative for development. She said poetry, fiction and dialogue would greatly help establishing a tolerant society.

The talented poet said that she was very impressed with poetry of great poet Parveen Shakir. “Perveen Shakir is one of the female poets, who defied tradition by expressing female experience in Urdu poetry and impressed young lot through her thematic variety and realistic poetry.”

Romance, happiness and feminine perspective of love are her ideal topics, said Rahima Naz, claiming, she is the first lady poet of Chitral who practices romantic poetry. —APP

Youth conference

PESHAWAR, Feb 6: A two-day youth conference organised by Leaders, a student society of Edwardes College Peshawar, concluded here on Sunday.

The event, which was organised with the collaboration of School of Learning Karachi, was aimed at capacity building of talented youth by training them in areas of public speaking, career planning, personality grooming and self-empowerment.

Over 180 students from Edwardes College, Institute of Management Sciences, University of Peshawar, Khyber Medical College, City University, Beaconhouse, Cecos University, Comsats Abbottabad and Numl participated in fun-based learning activities.

Edwardes College vice-principal Prof Kalimullah, stressed the importance of such workshops and conferences, especially in a region which has been endowed with the potential of producing productive citizens of 21st century. —Bureau Report