A group of enthusiastic university graduates planned an initiative to celebrate the linguistic diversity of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. About 30 languages are spoken across the province. Being composed of such linguistically varied groups that share social and cultural values, KP forms a cultural mosaic that can be used to promote durable peace in a pluralistic society.

Abdur Rahman Afridi along with 22 colleagues organised the first edition of Peshawar Literary Festival (PLF) and invited writers, scholars, linguists, artists and peace activists from Quetta, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the merged tribal districts, to join the Peshawarites for this literary event. The young hosts approached institutions as well in order to make their brainchild a success.

At the last minute, a horrific incident shattered their dream. A suicide blast on the mosque compound inside the precincts of the Police Lines just four days before the opening day of the event was reason enough to cancel the whole thing. However, the group did not give up and the invitees from the other cities extended their resolve to turn up on schedule.

The festival was shortened to two days instead of the original three-day event in light of the circumstances. On February 4, around 500 delegates showed up at the Peshawar Serena Hotel to share their thoughts with the grieving Peshawarites.

About 14 different panel discussions covered topics from storytelling and folk literature to environment and women’s rights to humour and satire in literature. The significance of mother tongues, a peace narrative and interfaith harmony were also conducted.

The first edition of the PLF was held under the auspices of US Embassy and the KP Directorate of Youth Affairs. The literati, artists, linguists, educationists and rights activists came together with the main objective to break the war narrative through advocating everlasting peace and stability in the region.

The opening session was a panel debate on children’s literary activities in which Noorul Basar Aman a young scholar, Raj Mohammad Afridi Gul Arbab and Afsar Afghan all agreed that not enough literature was available in local languages, such as Pashto and Hindko, which could be used to address the mental, social and physiological issues among children. Arbab stressed that parents, not the government, needed to help children speak and write in their mother tongues, and quoted a research study which argued that multilingual children could have a better command of other subjects.

Under a discussion titled ‘The education system of Pakistan in respect to critical thinking’, panelists comprising noted nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy, Prof Nasir Jamal Khattak, Shabana Gul and Sikandar Tangi pointed out that unless stereotypes were removed from textbooks, no creativity would be generated. In fact, we don’t even have textbook authors; whatever we have is a ‘copy and paste’ job, they stated.

Book-reading was yet another habit which our teachers and students do not take responsibly thus the entire educational edifice is in dire need of overhaul. Instead of ideas and concepts, stress is laid on rote memorisation and parroting. This consistently keeps our students from developing creativity capability, commented Prof Khattak.

Next was a session on the significance of mother languages in the development of society. Noted language activist from Swat Zubair Torwali presented the thesis revealing that the languages spoken in the power corridors suppressed the communities with low numerical strength. Mother languages, however, should get a prominent place when it comes to primary education.

However, Prof Mohammad Ali Dinakhel disagreed with this, explaining that several other factors could be behind the language problem. He added that there was no such thing as a big or small language. The panelists reached a consensus that KP, being home to a linguistic medley, should have a Language Authority to preserve and promote all mother tongues spoken in the province to ensure national integration.

Prof Khalid Sohail Malik and Mehraban Elahi recommended parents to encourage school-going in children so that they may practise local languages and better understand their indigenous cultural values. Torwali has set up four schools in the Swat/Bahrain area where education is provided in the native language of the area, ‘Torwali’. He shared with the audience that these students produce better results compared to those where primary education is in Urdu or English medium. He also runs an institute for educational training in Swat.

Seasoned journalist Wusatullah Khan conducted a journalistic writing workshop, where he encouraged aspiring reporters to read a lot, to rethink and research any story before filing it at the news desk. He urged them to believe in their own strength. “You are writers if you can think of writing even a single line with a clear purpose,” he said. “Never ever copy others, be original and always be your own,” Khan stressed.

The final debate was arranged on ‘Pakhtunkhwa’, its cultural heritage and its traditions in the perspective of identity. Prof Abaseen Yousafzai, Adil Safi, Prof Nasrullah Jan Wazir and Prof Yar Mohammad Maghmoom Khattak shed light on various aspects of the topic. Peshawar valley, being home to the Gandhara civilisation, coexists with other religions and sects and their followers. Prof Yousafzai said, one cannot not find even a single incident where Pakhtuns were involved in robbing or plundering Hindu or Sikh property at the time of Partition. A large number of minority groups still live in different areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he stated.

“It’s not we the Pashtuns who claimed responsibility for death and destruction. It is, in fact, a foreign hand bent upon subverting the peaceful environment of our province and the country at large,” claimed Prof Khattak. "For God’s sake, read books of history, know about the dynamics of culture,” he stressed.

Poet Hasena Gul, on the occasion, said Pashtun women had both awareness and education and could better fight for their rights. "KP women do not fall short of anyone. We have the strength to express ourselves and will be heard. We stand for peace and due rights, [we] read books and own books,” she reiterated.

The first day’s sessions came to an end with a grand Pashto poetry recitation in which poets from across KP participated and advocated one single message: ‘peace, books and prosperity,’ while they condemned terrorist activities.

The second and final day of PLF opened with a training workshop in which about 30 boys and girls and even a few children participated. Later, Swang and Theatre Wallay presented a stage adaptation of Manto’s stories revolving around family issues and women’s rights.

This was followed by an exciting session with veteran Pashto writer Saadullah Jan Barq, Dr Aurangzeb Niazi, Adeel Afzal, Wusatullah Khan and Gule Naukhaiz Akhtar. The panel’s discussion was filled with humour and satire and brought smiles on the faces of the saddened Peshawarites. Khan added that satire can exist only where tolerance reigns and the people of KP are known for their hospitality and sense of humour.

Prof Iqbal Shakir and Prof Usman Shah conducted workshops on creative writing in Pashto and Urdu. Bushra Farrukh and Prof Nasir Ali Syed said that the KP literati had enriched the literary heritage as Ahmad Faraz Farigh Bukhari, Reza Hamdani, Ameer Hamza Baba, Ajmal Khattak and Qalandar Momand had inspired generations of young literati and their thoughts and works still served as a source of motivation.

An Urdu Mushaira was hosted by Syed Zubair Shah, which the audience visibly enjoyed. Poems of Dr Sughra Sadaf, Dr Izhar, Dr Awias Qurani and Dr Sagheer Aslam enthralled the attendees. Shah asked poets and writers to motivate young writers to produce literature of peace.

Habib Nawaz, a visually-impaired senior Pashto poet from Swat, left the audience in a mood of euphoria when he recited a popular couplet of Khushal Khan Khattak: loosely translated as “A terrorist should never be allowed to live on our soil/Even if they enjoy the support of religious clerics.”

Considering the success of the literary festival, I caught up with two of the young organisers and asked how they felt as things drew to a close. Haris Hilal and Haris Shinwari were proud that their unflinching efforts bore fruit and proved to the world that our people were always resilient and could respond to unfortunate incidents in a positive manner.

The Peshawar Literary Festival ended with a pledge that young people should work to keep up the spirit of peace and tolerance and should never surrender to militants.

Sher Alam Shinwari is a Peshawar-based journalist who writes on art, literature, culture and issues pertaining to women, youth and minority rights. All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer.