PESHAWAR: The annual Pashto mushaira held at the University of Peshawar (UoP) captivated young students where poets recited poems reflective of their outlook on regional and social issues.

Organised under the auspices of Islami Jamiat Talaba, the mushaira was held at Agha Khan Auditorium of the university. A large number of students attended the event with great zeal.

Chaired by Prof Dr Ahmad Ali Aajiz, around 20 Pashto poets from parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa read out their poems at the event and received applause from the audience.

Suhaibuddin Kakakhel, provincial deputy general secretary of Jamat-i-Islami, chief procter and director admissions, UoP, Anwar Saeed and Aimal Khan, and Pashto poets Hussain Ahmad, Bakhtzada Danish and Rashid Khan were also among the participants.

Most poets rendered their poems and made the audience repeat the couplets with great interest. Rashid Khan, a young poet and student of UoP stole the mushaira by rendering his poem.

Awal Sher Khan, campus chief of IJT, in his remarks said that his organisation had been conducting such events to provide an opportunity to the young students to inspire creativity in them and take part in healthy activities on the campus.

“Curricular and co-curricular activities should go together for the development of overall personality of students and producing critical thinking among them so that they could face challenges ahead,” Mr Khan stated.

Zakir Safi, a young student, said that such events should be arranged frequently on the campuses. He said that poetry provided a window to creative ideas. “Such events could prove a blessing for the budding bards,” he said.

Tahirullah Khan said that IJT would continue arranging positive activities on the campus. He said that the annual poetry session and book fair were among favourite events of the students.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2019