PESHAWAR, Nov 10: A two-day Hindko conference to be held here from November 19 to 20 will give a boost to work being done for preservation and promotion of Hindko language and culture.

Gandhara Hindko Board vice-chairman Dr Adnan Gul, addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club here on Wednesday, said arrangements had been completed for holding the conference in a befitting manner.

Accompanied by the board’s other office-bearers, including Secretary Mohammad Ziauddin, he said: “Almost 90 per cent of the foreign delegates have confirmed their participation in the conference.”

He said that scholars of Sindhi, Balochi, Brahvi and Seraiki would also attend the programme.

Mr Gul said papers on Hindko language and Hindkowan culture would be presented. “The participation of literati from different parts of the country and abroad will help coordinate the work being undertaken for the preservation and promotion of Hindko language and culture,” he said and added that a grand Hindko Mushaira (poetry session) would also be held in the historic Gor Gathri in the heart of the Peshawar City on the first day of the conference.

He said that Governor Khalilur Rehman, Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, State Minister for Human Resource Development Dr Nasim Ashraf, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli and Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmad were expected to grace the occasion.

Deploring the official neglect of Hindko, Mr Gul said: “Hindko is an ancient language of the region which is spoken not only in Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera and Hazara areas of the NWFP, but also in Potohar (Northern Punjab) and Kashmir. But it is regrettable that successive governments paid no attention to it, leaving its precious literary heritage to die out.”

The Gandhara Hindko Board vice-chairman said Hindko was the second largely-spoken language of the province, but was deprived of official patronage.

“There is no Hindko Academy, Department for Hindko Studies and Hindko Adabi Board in the public sector,’’ he said.