PESHAWAR: The books and publications brought out by the Gandhara Hindko Academy to promote Hindko and other languages of the country has touched the 450 mark.

This was stated by Muhammad Ziauddin, a noted Hindko language writer, poet, researcher and Chief of Executive Committee of the academy, while speaking at a meeting arranged at the Dr Zahoor Ahmad Conference Room of the academy to review the work done by the body in the last five years and the achievements made during this time. He said the academy established in the year 2015 was the joint venture of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Higher Education Department (HED) and the Gandhara Hindko Board (GHB). It was, he explained, meant for promoting Hindko and other languages in an organised manners.

Ziauddin said the HED was funding the academy while the GHB was running its affairs. “This academy has set a good example of public-private partnership by accomplishing several tasks,” he pointed out. He said publishing 450 books and publications in Hindko and other languages was a great achievement to be proud of. The writer said the academy published the books keeping in view the required standards and a proper indexing was worth mentioning in this regard. “Apart from new books, we have also reprinted the old and rare publications which had gone out of print with time. The academy employed the scanning technique which relived these exceptional publications on the one hand and brought down the cost considerably on the other,” added the writer who has been associated with the Gandhara Hindko Board, a literary and cultural organisation, as its general secretary since in 1993 when it was launched.

Ziauddin said the Hindko Academy helped the researchers to promote research on the Hindko language and translated the books of scholars of other languages into Hindko as well to enrich this language. He said the academy engaged the online researchers which did away with the physical barriers and thus strengthened the literary and cultural research.

The writer said a well-maintained Archives Section at the academy was a plus point as it had audio, video, print and manuscript parts along with keeping the record of the Urdu and English newspapers. He said the academy talked to the management of various universities and convinced them to establish the “Hindko Chairs” so that the students are engaged in the research activities of the academy through these higher seats of learning. Ziauddin said the Hindko Academy and board jointly arranged seven international conferences, women moots to promote the Hindko language and culture.

He maintained apart from Hindko, the academy arranged Gojri, Kohistani and Khowar literary conferences to back the effort of literati of these languages as they lacked the resources for that.

The writer said the academy brings out weekly and monthly journals, including “Hindkowan, “Sarkhel”, “The Gandhara Voice”, “Fatima” in Hindko and supports other literary organizations in publishing magazines in other Khyber Pakhtunkhwa languages.

He said that seminars, workshops, quiz competitions, poetry recital sessions are held for the promotion of the Hindko language and functions are hosted regularly to mark important days such as the Independence Day, Pakistan Day, International Women’s Day, etc. Ziauddin said the academy joined hands with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture Department and arranged various activities under the “Revival of Indigenous Culture and Heritage Project for the promotion of the Hindko language and culture. He said a mobile app was developed and launched for the Hindko language promotion to keep pace with the new trends in the field of information technology. Ziauddin added the academy designed software to teach Hindko to children so that they are attracted to the language through game-based learning.