The year 2014 marks 100 years of the birth of the legendary Pashtun poet Khan Abudl Ghani Khan. Peace loving Pashtuns from Pakistan, Afghanistan and across the globe are celebrating this year to pay tribute to the great Pashtun genius. Different events have been planned in different parts of the world in which the life and works of Ghani Khan would be highlighted and his relevance for peace propagated.
The Center for Peace and Culture Studies Peshawar (CPCSP) intends to publish a compilation of research papers, articles, photos and arts works about Ghani Khan. Writers, critics and artists are invited to catch the ethos and express their take on Ghani Khan (in English) for a wider international audience.
Life and Works of Ghani Khan
Khan Abdul Ghani Khan, commonly known as Ghani Khan was born in 1914 into the family of the 20th century iconic Pashtun leader Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan. After receiving his early education in his native town Utmanzai in Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa he was sent to Europe and then the US for higher studies. In US he studied sugar technology which earned him a job back home in 1933. He had also studied painting, sculptures, Asian philosophy, literature and arts in India.
Before the partition of India he was closely associated with the non-violent Khudai Khimatar (Red Shirt) movement initiated by his father. He remained active in politics for some time but finally retired and devoted himself to arts and poetry.
His prose writings include and English work The Pathan (1958), a critical exposition of the life style of Pashtuns and their customs and traditions and an Urdu book on his father Khan Sahib (1995). May of his humours are also published in Pashto.
His first poetry publication was Da Panjray Chaghar (1956) which is a collection of his poems. His other books Palawahy and Panoos were published later on in which he had added new poetry to his early publications. His collected works published are Kuliyat (1985) and Latoon (1995).
In addition to poetry Ghani Khan had also created paintings and sculptors of higher aesthetic value. In recognition to his invaluable contributions the Government of Pakistan has awarded him Sitara-e-Imtiaz and an official monument and museum has been build near his hometown. Ghani Khan died in 1996 and was buried in Utmanzai Charsadda.
Importance of Ghani Khan
It is not possible to sum up the versatile genius of Khan Abudl Ghani Khan in few words. Once entered into the vast sea of his artistic mind it is not very easy to come out. You find yourself without any shores. The rhythmic tides of his creative impulses play with you. The underlying logic of his thoughts forces you to plunge deep into the waters and explore more. The romance entices you, giving you the impression of illusions after illusions and you are almost lost.
The appeal of Ghani Khan poetic genius is far greater than other traits of his dynamic personality such as his political struggle, his professional career as an engineer, his prose or his paintings and sculptures. His poetry is so powerful and meaningful that even an adamant Pashtun youth could hardly remain uninfluenced. This may be due to his deeper understanding of Pashtun culture which might have enabled him to override local myths, taboos, religious authority and such other things and thus he was able to create poetry of higher aesthetic value for a people who desperately needed it. That is why a part of Ghani Khan lives in almost all peace loving Pashtuns. His poetry would hold this appeal as long as Pashtuns survive as a culturally homogenous group.
But more important than his local appeal is the freshness of his thoughts for a wider international audience. His thoughts are being shaped by diverse regional and international influences and when these influences interact with the grooming of a genius in the typical Pashtun culture, it creates and represents something that transcends time and place. Thus the beauty of his artistic genius has a universal value for a much wider audience.
Muhammad Arif Khan is the Executive Director of the Center for Peace & Cultural Studies, Peshawar. He can be reached at cpcspeshawar@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment