QUETTA, Oct 28: Governor Balochistan Amir-ul-Mulk Mengal has said that poets, writers and intellectuals play an important role in guiding the society in the right direction.

He was speaking at a ceremony held to distribute awards among authors of 12 books chosen as best in Urdu, Balochi, Pushto and Brahvi languages here at Governor House.

He said: “Literature helps us to live a clean and refined life.” He attributed the prevailing social evils and moral weaknesses to the lack of interest in literature. “Our new generation has become indifferent to books.”

He urged writers to create literature that promotes positive values so that the dream of establishing an Islamic welfare society could be translated into reality.

The governor deplored that in the past writers and poets were not given their due status and they were forced to live under abject conditions. Realizing this, the government set up a welfare fund of Rs1 million to help them without hurting their ego.

Another step the government took to help the men of letters was allocation of one hundred residential plots in Drakhshan Housing Scheme. These plots would soon be distributed among the deserving writers.

The government, he said, also decided to allocate Rs0.4 million to give awards to the best books in Urdu, Balochi, Pushto and Brahvi.

Those who received awards are: (Urdu writers):

Dr Firdous Anwar Qazi, Hassan Javed, Prof Saeed Ahmed Rafique, (Balochi writers): Ghani Buzdar, Mohammad Yousaf Gichki, Wahid Buzdar; (Pashto writers) Sultan Mohammad Sabir, Mohammad Naeem Azad, Abdul Rauf Rafiqi; (Brahvi writers) Tahira Jattak, Mohammad Ishaq Souz and Abdul Qayyum Badar.