PESHAWAR, March 15: No literary and cultural organisation or government department arranged any programme on Tuesday to remember Ghani Khan, the philosophical poet and writer, on his 15th death anniversary.
Even the newly established Cultural Directorate didn't bother to pay tribute to the late poet for his remarkable literary and artistic contribution.
Khan Abdul Ghani Khan (1914-1996), the eldest son of Bacha Khan, the founder leader of Red Shirt Movement, was a man of many shades and colours. He greatly impacted almost three generations of Pakhtun poets and writers.
Ghani Khan was a person of a different skin. Born with natural talent of art and poetry, he carried a restless soul in his body. He used to draw figures of close friends and relatives with charcoal and also compose satirical verses while Bacha Khan was little interested in his son's artistic genius.
Ghani received early education from Mission High School Peshawar and then Azad School founded by Bacha Khan. Later, he was sent to UK and the USA for doing graduation in Chemical Engineering.
This was trying time for him as British government confiscated everything lying in his father's possession. Ghani Khan was called back home due to financial constraints.
Bacha Khan admitted him to Shantiniketan University of Rabindra Nath Tagore where he took journalism and English literature as his career subjects.
But his teachers soon discovered his talent and offered admission to him and Indra Gandhi to Shantiniketan Art Academy (SAA). Both of them, considered to be the brilliant students of the academy, were also interested in politics. Ghani Khan and Indra were elected as president and social secretary of the Art School Student's Union, respectively.
When Bacha Khan visited SAA in 1941, he immediately removed his son from free western type environment. Ghani Khan spent six years in Haripur prison and completed his first poetry collection Da Panjray Chighaar. He married Begum Roshan, the youngest daughter of Nawab Rustum Jang Faridoonji of Hyderabad Deccan in 1939.
She was an accomplished artist of high literary taste. She preferred to bring six thousands rare books on art, music, literature and philosophy as her dowry. The tasteful couple kept themselves at bay from active politics after Ghani Khan was release from prison in 1954.
He read extensively and wrote voluminously on almost every subject in Urdu, English and Pashto. His Book 'The Pathans: A Sketch' first published in 1947 in Bombay, received a wide spread reputation for his unique style. He never followed the traditional style of rhyming in Pashto poetry but still he maintained quality of contents and lofty thoughts.
Also, he evolved his own way in paintings and sculpture. He would most often gift his paintings to family members and friends.
He could hold only two solo exhibitions in his lifetime, first in 1970 in Lahore and second in 1990 in Peshawar.
He was an abstract impressionist. Round about 200 of his art pieces have been preserved but they are exposed to environmental hazards. Ghani Khan had named his grandson Behram after his grand father while Behram named his son Ghani Khan after his grandfather to keep up the family tradition.
It is for little Ghani Khan to grow up with a great treasure of his legendary grandfather now housed at his home Darul Amaan, built in 1944.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had established Da Ghani Derai, a memorial complex, in Charsadda in 2002 at a cost of Rs18 million but the question is whether it serves the purpose of doing substantial research on Ghani's life and works or it would remain just a recreation centre for visitors.
Ghani Khan passed away on March 15, 1996.
