PESHAWAR, Feb 7: Theatre plays on the lives and struggle of Pir Rokhan and Bacha Khan would be staged soon, said Provincial Minister for Information and Culture Mian Iftikhar Hussain.  

Addressing the audience at the final show of stage play on warrior poet Khushal Khan Khattak, he said that local talent had the potential to carry out such projects.

The theatre play on Khushal Khan Khattak was staged here at Nishtar Hall on the nights of February 4, 5 and 6 under the auspices of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture Department. Besides local people, the play drew tasteful audience from Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Quetta, Karachi and Islamabad.

Pashto writer and cultural attaché of Afghanistan in Peshawar Parveen Malal, Senator Afrasiab Khattak and Culture Secretary Mohammad Hanif Khan Orakzai also watched the play.

Mr Hussain said that Khushal Khan Khattak was not only a warrior, who fought against the powerful Mughal rulers, but also a great intellectual, a revered poet and a political visionary.

He had predicted that if Pakhtuns did not get united against their common enemy then Mughal-like characters would continue usurping their rights, the minister said.

“Mughal rulers exploited the strength of great Pakhtun warrior. Even his own son Bahram Khan turned against him. It was then that he decided to take refuge in Tirah not due to fear of being killed by Mughals but to frustrate their plot to get him killed by his own sword. We should learn lessons from the livers of our past heroes. Today too Pakhtuns are faced with the similar situation,” he said.

Some university students from Kabul demanded that the play on Khushal Khan Khattak should be staged in Kabul and Kandahar as it would strengthen cultural ties between the two countries.

“I have come from Kabul along with my friends to watch this great play. We demand that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should take this theatre play to Kabul and Kandahar. It will further cement our cultural relations,” said Gul Bat Khan, an Afghan student.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Malal said that she watched the play on the life, political struggle and vision of Khushal Khan Khattak, the pride of Afghans, with great interest. “I am really impressed with the superb performance of the actors, script of the play and directorial skills,” she added.

To a query regarding demand of the Afghan students, she said such good proposals could be discussed at federal levels. Pakhtuns should celebrate their heroes in a befitting manner, Ms Malal said.

Noorul Bashar Naveed, the script writer of the play, said that it was his first project. He said that he was ready to change the play into a serial drama for a private TV channel if an offer was made to him.

“Khushhal Khattak is a great hero. It can do business. From the successful experience of the theatre play it has been proved that our young generation will watch it more eagerly on the mini screen,” he said.

Masood Ahmad Shah, the director of the play, said that the three-day experience of staging a theatre play was equal to his 30 years career as PTV director.

He said that plays could be staged in Peshawar in a better way if government provided its necessary paraphernalia. “There were some problems in its presentation but we overcame it in our own way,” Mr Shah added.