Contributed by: Dr. Inayatullah Faizi

Chitral (February 21): Anjuman- e- Taraqi Khowar Chitral held one-day seminar to celebrate The International Mother Tongue Day in Chitral. The seminar was split into three sessions and five papers were presented in each session.
First session was presided over by Amir Khan Mir while Tehsil Nazim Chitral and Mr. Sartaj Ahmad Khan was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr. Yousuf Shahzad President Anjuman-e-Taraqi Khowar Chitral presented the welcome address. In his speech, he highlighted the objectives of the mother tongue day, which was being celebrated throughout the world since 1999 under the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly. He stressed the need to create awareness among speakers of various languages on the importance of mother tongue and its preservation. He added that Chitral was a unique district where 14 languages were spoken as first language by different communities. He thanked members of different language communities for participating in the seminar.
Speaker of the session included Mukaram Shah, Gul Murad Khan, Abdul Majeed Qureshi and Dr. Inayatullah Faizi. The speakers presented papers on the background of the day and various trends of languages preservation in Khowar and Noristani. The Chief guest Sartaj Ahmad Khan lauded the efforts of Anjuman-e-Taraqi Khowar in creating awareness on the importance of the mother tongues of Chitral. He assured the organizers of his full support in their efforts in bringing different speech communities together for the preservation of their languages. He announced the donation of 20 thousand rupees for the preservation of folk songs and traditional traits of food and cuisine. In his presidential address Mr. Ameer Khan Mir emphasized the need to work hard for preserving the vocabulary of mother tongues and produced reading material in these languages.
The second session was presided over by Islamuddin while Mr. Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti was chief guest of the session. Those who presented their papers included Moula Nigah, Naqeebullah Razi, Abdul Salam and Muhammad Irfan. The speakers highlighted various trends in Khowar and Ursuniwar languages. The chief guest appreciated the role of writers and poets in preserving the language and hoped that the languages of Chitral will be preserved for future generations by the writers of this age. Delivering his presidential address Mr. Islamuddin called upon the intellectuals of Chitral for working to forge unity among the people and playing their role as catalyst for bringing positive change in the society. The last session was presided over by Mukaram Shah and Mr. Zuhran Shah was chief guest in that session. Those who presented their papers included Mr. Muhammad Hussain, Zahiruddin and Javed Hayat. The speakers made presentations on literary trends in Pashto and Khowar. In speech the chief guest highlighted the need to make communities aware of the significance of their mother tongues.
Wrapping up the discussion Mr. Mukaram Shah proposed that special committees might be formed to compile grammars, dictionaries and primers of all the mother tongues spoken in Chitral.
Prominent poets Iqbaluddin Sahar and Saleh Wali Azad recited poems while Saddam Hussain recited Naat Sharif in the seminar. Patron in chief of the Anjuman-e-Taraqi Khowar Mr. Gul Nawaz Khaki presented five resolutions in the concluding session.
The resolutions included demands for introducing mother tongues in the schools and giving proper representation for mother tongues in the media. Shahzada Tanveerul Mulk thanked the management of the Aga Khan Rural Support Program for financial assistance in holding the seminar.

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