Urgently Needed: Love, Peace and Brotherhood

Staff Report, "Speakers pay tribute to Hindko mystic poet" - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Peshawar: A seminar held in Peshawar on Sunday paid tribute to the great Hindko mystic poet Sain Ahmad Ali, and called for the setting up of a chair at the University of Peshawar to carry out in-depth research on his work.

The event was organised by the literary, cultural and social welfare organisation, the Gandhara Hindko Board (GHB), at the newly established Gandhara Auditorium to mark the 71st death anniversary of the death of the Sufi poet.

Riaz Ahmad, the great grandson of a freedom fighter from the Walled City of Peshawar, and a revolutionary poet, Meher Mitho, were chief guests on the occasion; while Hindko writer, poet, and researcher Sabir Hussain Imdad presided over the function, which was attended by a considerable number of people.

Literati and devotees expressed reverence for the great 19th century mystic. The speakers hailed his poetry as an asset to humanity, saying Sain preached a message of love, peace and brotherhood, something urgently needed in this troubling age.

The speakers spoke about the life and work of the Sufi, whose poetic compositions ran into thousands; only a fraction of those have survived through oral traditions.

“Sufi poets such as Rehman Baba, Bule Shah, Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai and Sain Ahmad Ali all laid stress on love and peace. Their teachings need to be preached and spread for a better world,” said Sabir Hussain Imdad, one of the speakers, in his detailed paper that he presented on the occasion.

The participants in their speeches called for the printing of more of Sain’s work. They praised the GHB, which has compensated for the neglect shown to the great poetry of the saint in the past by publishing three books: ‘Sain Ahmad Ali’, by Professor Dr Zahoor Ahmad Awan; ‘Peer Sain’ by Muhammad Zaiuddin; and ‘Kulliyaat-e-Sain’ by Muhammad Ismail Awan.

They urged the government to help recover and publish the rest of the work of the Hindko mystic.

Gandhara Hindko Board Secretary Muhammad Ziauddin asked the government to give Sain Ahmad Ali’s work due attention as his poetry was in Hindko, the second most common language of the NWFP [North-West Frontier Province] and one in need of official support and patronage.

He announced that the GHB would soon publish an international edition of Sain Ahmad’s work. “The book will be in four languages - Hindko, Pashto, Urdu and English,” he added, saying Sultan Fareedi had carried out the translation into Pashto and Urdu.

Through a resolution, the seminar demanded that the government officially celebrate Sain Ahmad Ali Day, construct a befitting tomb for the Sufi poet outside Kohati Gate, and implement the City District Government’s decision of renaming Gubahar Chowk as Sain Ahmad Ali Chowk.

Later, 15 poets paid poetic tribute to the illustrious mystic of the Hindko language, who has a considerable following in the vast area of Potohar as well as in the NWFP.

Singers Ahmad Nadeem Awan and Saeed Paris rendered verses from Sain’s work, delighting the audience.

Sain Ahmad Ali was born in the Walled City of Peshawar in 1842 AD. His harfis (poetic verses) are recited with respect.

The Sufi poet died in Peshawar on April 13, 1937 at age 95 and was laid to rest outside Kohati Gate. His last resting place has been rebuilt thrice by devotees without any help from the government.

[Read more about the Hindko language at Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindko_language]

[Go to the Official Web Portal of the Government of Pakistan's North-West Province]

[Picture: the Mazar of Sain Ahmad Ali. Photo from the Official Website of the Gandhara Hindko Board http://www.hindko.pk/index.html].