{"id":97923,"date":"2017-09-04T12:01:39","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T11:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=97923"},"modified":"2017-09-02T15:11:22","modified_gmt":"2017-09-02T14:11:22","slug":"peace-poetry-a-burgeoning-movement-in-pakistans-kp-province","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/09\/peace-poetry-a-burgeoning-movement-in-pakistans-kp-province\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace Poetry: A Burgeoning Movement in Pakistan\u2019s KP Province"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 300 books have been written by Pakistani poets on the subject of “peace” over the last decade and poetry gatherings are drawing large crowds.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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A peace poetry gathering in Khyber Pakhtunkwa. Photo: Wehmi Aurakzai<\/p><\/div>\n

Pakistan\u2019s war-ravaged Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has witnessed some of the country\u2019s bloodiest conflicts of the past decade. Most ordinary people, tired of volatility, terrorism and the US-led \u201cwar\u201d on it<\/a>, simply long for peace.<\/p>\n

Voicing the desire of citizens, poets in the province have written extensively about this longing. According to Inamullah, the owner of University Book Agency, a leading bookshop in Peshawar, more than 300 books have been written by Pakistani poets on the subject of \u201cpeace\u201d over the last decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sell almost 1,000 \u2018peace poetry\u2019 books in a month and sales of regular and poetry books are equal,\u201d Inamullah says.<\/p>\n

For many \u2018peace poets,\u2019 the written word is a way of expressing the pain of victims and raising consciousness.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrorism is the invention of destructive minds and peace can only be achieved by understanding and changing destructive minds into peaceful minds through peace education,\u201d says Professor Abaseen Yousafzai, a renowned Pashto poet and Director of the Pashto Department at Islamia College Peshawar. \u201cPoets strive in a war environment to protect people from unrest by struggling for peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peace poetry gatherings are an important tool for reaching people and spreading awareness in areas riven by conflict. They are a way to bring people with different backgrounds and ideologies together in the name of peace.<\/p>\n

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A peace poetry gathering in Khyber Pakhtunkwa. Photo: Wehmi Aurakzai<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cPeace poetry is a great uniter, bringing divided people together and directly leading them to peace,\u201d Yousufzai says. \u201cIt is a powerful weapon against war. We need tranquility\u2026 for the sake of human survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following years of suffering, levels of violence have dropped over the last year or so but peace has not been restored completely in KP. Yousaufzai says the main reasons are that people put their own perceived interests before any legal or moral framework. \u201cThe real enemies of humans are those tcreating war, preparing people for war and making arms.\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Peace poetry, says Israr Attal, a poet and author based in Peshawar, not only resonates with people on a deeply human level but also helps to create an environment where peacebuilding can take place. \u201cIt can mentally prepare people to confront terrorism,\u201d he says. \u201cWar and destruction have been reduced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa partly due to the desire of the people for peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrorism is the invention of destructive minds and peace can only be achieved by understanding and changing them\u00a0into peaceful minds through peace education\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gatherings are important, he says, partly because there is little space given on mainstream media channels to promoting the values of peace. Over the last few years, various organizations have taken to staging monthly and even weekly peace poetry events in Khyber Pukhtunkwa\u2019s cities. Such events consistently draw large crowds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have lots of literary organizations fighting for peace\u2026 but our voices of peace are scattered in the current warlike circumstances,\u201d he says, adding that there is much work to be done in changing hearts and minds. \u201cIf we have unity, then we can defeat this destructive war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terrorists have banned music in areas of the province which they control and say it is prohibited in Islam. Many people are afraid to sing but it is promote at peace poetry events. The singing of peace poetry, Attal clams, can touch people and bring about change in society.<\/p>\n

Adnan Bangash, an avid reader of peace poetry, says the promotion of peaceful literature is the best way to guide people in the current chaotic circumstances in which the country finds itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur land is combusting in the flames of war,\u201d he says. \u201cBy spreading peace education, we can support society to turn away from conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 atimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 300 books have been written by Pakistani poets on the subject of “peace” over the last decade and poetry gatherings are drawing large crowds. \u201cWe sell almost 1,000 \u2018peace poetry\u2019 books in a month and sales of regular and poetry books are equal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}