Fifth KP Languages & Cultures Moot opens today

A two-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Languages and Cultures Conference is opening here today to discuss the challenges being faced in the preservation and promotion of different languages and cultures.

The organisers told The News on Friday that the literati and cultural experts from 30 languages spoken in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — Pashto, Hindko, Seraiki, Khowar, Indus Kohistani, Gojri, Badeshi, Bateri, Chilisso, Dameli, Gawri, Gawarbati, Gawro, Kalasha, Kalkoti, Kamveri, Kataweri, Maddagalashti, Pahari, Palula, Pashai, Farsi, Sarakoli, Shina, Sheikhani, Torwali, Ormuri, Ushojo, Wakhi and Yidgha — will attend the moot, which is the fifth of its kind in the province. The first such conference was held in 2006.

Senator Farhat Abbas of the Pakistan People’s Party would inaugurate the moot while Awami National Party Senior Vice-President Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel will chair a session of the conference on ‘Save the Dying Voices and Cultures of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.’

The event is being organised by the Gandhara Hindko Board in collaboration with the Forum for Language Initiative (FLI) that works for the preservation and promotion of the disadvantaged and neglected languages.

There will nine sessions, five on the first and four on the second day. The first day of the conference will have academic sessions while the second day proceedings are to be attended by officials from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), National Language Authority, Pakistan Academy of Letters, Allama Iqbal Open University, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board, Culture Department, public representatives and members of the civil society organisations.

The organising committee members Mohammad Ziauddin, a Hindko language researcher, Zaman Saghar, an expert of Gawri language of Swat and Dir Upper, and Fakhruddin, a Khowar language writer, said Pakistani language activists from the United Kingdom and the United States would join the proceedings through an audio conference and respond to the questions raised by the participants of the programme in Peshawar.
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References:

Mahmood, Nisar. 2010. "Fifth KP Languages & Cultures Moot opens today". The News (Pakistan). Posted: December 25, 2010. Available online: http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=22106&Cat=7