24 May 2010 - “Come, let us flee together, my love – let us leave the problems for the old greybeard to solve.”

Though the residents of Paktya, known as Paktyawal, are men of swords and guns, their history is also full of romance, traditions and glorious adventures.

In spite of the seemingly tough exterior of the people in this highly conservative and rigid society, Paktyawal have inherited a culture rich in romance and beauty.

The various Paktya clans and tribes possess rich treasures of the arts – including folk songs, dances, literature and poetry – such as the above example of the “tappas” which are the Afghans’ “sighs of the heart.”

Tribal customs and traditions – like holding colourful fairs and festivals – are an inseparable part of their society.

Currently, numerous cultural and literary societies, newspapers and magazines are actively dedicated in the promotion and preservation of this rich history, and in the improvement of their culture and literature.

In this connection, the Paktya Cultural and Literary Society recently held the annual “Nashtar” poetry symposium in Gardez city, the capital of Paktya province.

Participating in this splendid festival were hundreds of people – including poets, writers, intellectuals, scholars, parliamentarians, provincial government authorities, representatives of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and devotees of Pashto literature and poetry from the provinces of Kabul, Nangarhar, Khost, Ghazni, Kandahar, Zabul, Kunar, Laghman, Maidan Wardak and Paktika.

This annual event provides an opportunity for the youth, especially budding and promising poets, to express themselves by reciting their poems which carry messages of love, peace, stability and unity in the country.

The performances by the poets were rewarded with thunderous applause from the audience; and the poets were given various gifts, including turbans (known as “longye”) and the book Gulabona, a collection of poems and biographies of Paktya-based poets which were compiled and printed as a special anniversary edition for this festival.

Apart from the speeches and the reading of poems and other presentations, various literature (books, magazines and pamphlets) from several associations were also distributed to the participants.

Such events not only contribute to encouraging the young generation to actively participate in the rebuilding of the country. The messages of the presentations and the poems also help in directing the mindset of the youngsters towards peace and tolerance.

Paktya Governor Juma Khan Hamdard expressed his pleasure over the Pashto poetry celebration and asked the participants to also recite poems calling on people to embrace brotherhood and national solidarity.

“The powerful man’s water flows uphill,” goes a well-known Paktya proverb.

As Paktya is also the land of Jirghas, proverbs are heard in conflict solutions, gatherings and political speeches not only as a clever form of verbal art, but also as a potent tool of verbal combat.

By Dilawar Khan Dilawar, UNAMA