A literary, cultural and social welfare organisation, Gandhara Hindko Board, has set up a full-fledged Gandhara Welfare Trust to reach out to the poor. The decision to this effect was taken at the executive committee meeting of the board which was presided over by the chairman of the organisation and former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief secretary Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi. The participants took a number of decisions keeping in view the mandate of the board that has been working for the preservation and promotion of Hindko language since its launch in 1993 and has to its credit 38 Hindko books.
The general secretary of the board and in charge of the Research and Documentation Wing, Muhammad Ziauddin, gave a detailed presentation on the literary, cultural and social welfare work done by the board last year. He said the database of over 3,000 members of the board had been prepared.
He said the requisite information on the people who had laid down lives at Qissa Khwani on April 23, 1930 had been gathered which would be printed in a book form. He said the board would carry on the work in the light of the vision given by its founding-chairman Professor Dr Zahoor Ahmad Awan (late). Senior Vice Chairman Associate Professor Dr Adnan Gul said the board had extended cooperation to a non-governmental organisation, Poverty Eradication Initiative (PEI), headed by a philanthropist, Shahid Yousaf that provided support in kind to the deserving families.
He said working with the PEI was a great experience and that was the reason that the board had decided to set up Gandhara Welfare Trust to help the poor sections of the society. A Hindko researcher and Vice Chancellor of City University Professor Dr Anwaar Fazil Chishti explained the structure of the Gandhara Welfare Trust. A United States-based cardio-thoracic surgeon from Peshawar, Professor Dr Syed Amjad Hussain, promised all help to the Trust. In charge of Medical Wing and vice chairman of the board, Dr Salahuddin said his team had began by visiting and extending help to the victims after the October 8, 2005 devastating earthquake in Mansehra and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
He said with support from the United Kingdom-based Quest for Economic Development (QED-UK), the board held free medical camps in the affected areas after the devastating floods on July 28, 2010. The doctor said more free medical camps would be arranged this year as well. The executive committee approved holding of a naat contest for the children on January 29, a seminar on February 21 to mark the International Mother Language Day and second Aalmi Hindko Conference in November, this year.
Gandhara Hindko Board sets up trust for the poor
