PESHAWAR – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said that KP is the beautiful banquet of various mother tongues and all these tongues will be given due representation according to their status both at educational and administrative level.
Mian Iftikhar said this while addressing two separate gatherings arranged in connection with the Universal Day of Mother Tongues here at Peshawar Press Club on Monday. The functions were arranged by Peshawar Press Club’s Cultural Wing and KP Information and Culture Department.
Intellectuals of various mother tongues and literary personalities from all over the province attended the function and presented their papers and poems. Mian Iftikhar said without giving importance to the mother languages, no one could get the goals of progress and prosperity and added that it was need of the hour to provide equal opportunities of promotion to the tongues and cultures of all regional areas.
The present provincial government was striving hard for the promotion of all regional languages and cultures, he said adding that the inclusion of all mother tongues in syllabus and declaring them compulsory from Class-I to 2nd year was a revolutionary step of the government. He announced that a conference in connection with mother’s tongues would be held soon at Peshawar wherein writers and intellectuals of all regional languages of the province would be invited and proposals for the promotion of regional languages and cultures would be sought from them.
ANP believes in free media: Iftikhar: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has reaffirmed his party’s stance on the freedom of the press and provision of due wages and facilities to working journalists. “We do believe in free media and responsible journalism, which could ensure smooth functioning of government according to the constitution,” Iftikhar remarked, addressing a special condolence reference in the memory of senior journalist Minhaj Barna at Peshawar Press Club on Monday.
Reference in the memory of the late founding leader of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) was organised by Khyber Union of Journalists. The reference was also addressed by PFUJ President Pervez Shaukat, General Secretary Shams-ul-Islam Naaz, Khyber Union of Journalists President Malik Arshad Aziz, General Secretary Yousaf Ali and former Peshawar Press Club President Shamim Shahid.
Paying glowing tributes to Minhaj Barna, Iftikhar said he had played a key role not only in safeguarding the rights of journalists but also in the restoration of democracy.
