PESHAWAR: Speakers on Wednesday paid rich tributes to the legendary Pashto poet Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari, popularly known as ‘Baba-e-Pashto Ghazal’, at a grand Pashto Mushaira arranged under the auspices of the Khyber Students Association (KSA).
About 30 young poets from various universities including Islamia College University and University of Peshawar participated in the event held at the Aga Khan Auditorium, University of Peshawar.
The chief guest Prof Dr Qabil Khan Afridi, former chairman of the Department of English, University of Peshawar, said that Hamza Baba played the role of a bridge between the old and modern Pashto poetry by bringing about a drastic change in the diction and by transforming the course of Pashto literature. He said Hamza Baba influenced the entire 20th century.

He said he had the privilege to do his PhD thesis on the life and work of the legendary poet while he was still alive. “I used to discuss every thing with Hamza Baba. He was humble enough to give me details about his life and literary work,” he said.

“He used to guide me to arrange my thesis and provided me enlightenment regarding his philosophic thoughts in his poetry and prose. It was an honour to carry out research on the great Sufi poet. We need further research on his literary contributions,” he maintained.

Prof Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak, director of the Centre of Pashto Language and Literature, University of Peshawar, said that Hamza Baba was still unexplored as he was a multifaceted personality who contributed to almost every literary genre of Pashto literature.

He said Hamza Baba was a practicing Sufi and a great literary figure not only of the 20th century Pashto literature but also of the future generations. Dr Raj Wali pointed out that research scholars were ignoring his ‘Nazm’ and other literary aspects while focusing only on his Ghazal,The news