GILGIT, Aug 25: The launching of five books namely Folktales in the Shina of Gilgit, Dadii Shilooke Vol: I-II’, Shina Urdu Angreezi Bol Chal, Alkhaanoo Bijoon, written by Shakil Ahmad Shakil, a linguist and researcher, was held under the patronage of Shina Language and Culture Promotion Society in a local hotel on Monday.

Inayatullah Shumali, chairman Gilgit-Baltistan National Alliance, who inaugurated the function, said that Shakil Ahmad Shakil’s writings had high literary quality. He added that Shakil Ahmad Shakil was really a sufi who had offered five noble treatises to Shina language. He said that knowledge was the outcome of relationship with God, not a product of selfish intent.

The chief guest, Ghulam Abbas Gandalo, a well-known educationist and research scholar, speaking on the author’s personality, said that dervishi did not craft a personality which could be shaken by uncertainties or difficulties. “We can easily see this significant quality in Shakil’s life.’ He asked Shakil Ahmad to publish all of his writings.

Salman Ali, an activist of SLCPS, read from a writing of social scientist and researcher Aziz Ali Dad, in which Aziz has discussed the threat to languages that globalisation poses. The author fears that the 21st century would prove to be the graveyard of local languages. Israruddin Israr, journalist and writer, read his paper on Shakil Ahmad Shakil’s work and said that his work on Shina was of world standard.

Poet and playwright Abdul Hafeez Shakir described Shakil Ahmad Shakil’s work as helpful in phonetic expression of Shina language. It would promote documentation of the oral literature of Shina as well as its modern literature. He added that Shakil Ahmad Shakil would inspire others to take interest in the future of the Shina language.

Shakil Ahmad Shakil speaking about his work quoted Rolland Barth’s saying that “writing writes not writers”. It meant that literature was not produced in air. It was produced in a literary tradition. He thanked the Shina Language and Culture Promotion Society for organizing the function to launch his books. He also thanked Karakoram Co-operative Bank Ltd and Northern Areas Transport Corporation for their moral and financial support.