[Feature]14 years of Wakhi radio program

Sultan Ahmed

Sado-e-Bom-e-Dunyo (Voice of The Roof of the World), as the name indicates, is a famous radio program in Wakhi Language, broadcast from Radio Pakistan Gilgit. A rescheduled ceremony commemorating 14^th anniversary of the program was held on Sunday November 14, 2010, instead of the actual day, i.e. November 1, independence day of Gilgit – Baltistan!

The anniversary was jointly organized by the Radio Pakistan administration and artists of Sado-e-Bom-e-Dunyo, the Wakhi program. Present at the occasion were key figures from the Gilgit based wakhi community.

Mr. Gul Baig, Secretary Finance GB – who had also attended the first-ever Wakhi program on November 1, 1996 –  lauded the efforts to Radio Pakistan for giving voice to Wakhi populace through this program. He further stressed the need to use this facility not only for entertainment but also for lifelong learning and knowledge sharing.

Alwaez Muhammad Aslam, a renowned scholars and key contributor to the program as a participant of talk-shows, expressed his immense pleasure on this important occasion and reminded the listeners that they should never detach themselves from two best companions i.e. books and radio.

Col. Zahid Hussain, representing Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) congratulated all the listeners and presenters on the eve of the 14^th anniversary and said that besides other listeners, the soldiers have played a great role in the progress of the program whereas the program has also made greater efforts to keep the moral of soldiers higher.

Mr. Ali Qurban, a renowned poet and literary figure, appreciated the role of the program in giving the Wakhi people an identity as they can stay connected regardless of the fact that they live in distant places such as China, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and other remote parts of Pakistan such as Brughal, Ishkomen etc.

The management of Radio Pakistan Gilgit expressed great felicitation and best wishes to all listeners and presenters of Sado-e-Bom-e- Dunyo on its 14^th anniversary. They showed their great commitment towards improving the quality of the program. They also highlighted the fact that at the outset it was a 15-minute program which was then extended to 30 minutes and finally on the demand of the listeners, now the duration is 1 hour . The speakers included: Station Director Aftab Mehmood, Ex-SD Gilgit and current SD-Skardu Alam Khan, Producers Wakhi Program Wajid Ali and Producer Shina Program Dr. Sher Dil Khan. Enginer Rehmat Ali gave some technical details about the program.

While expressing their views on this important occasion, senior artists of the program shared some feelings of joy, fulfillment and nostalgia while sharing their experiences.  Amongst those were Mr. Ahmed Jami Sakhi, Lal Jahan and Ahmed Riaz Ahmed. The two senior artists of the program Sultan Ahmed and Marjan Aziz played the role of master of ceremony. Other young artists present at the occasions were Sherullah Baig, Fazlur Rehman, Rehmat Karim, Karim Rehman, Syed Akber, Niyat Numah and Sher Iqbal Soleh.

After the live program, all guest joined the cake cutting ceremony in the studio. After refreshments, Mr. Wajid Ali thanked all the guests on behalf of Radio Pakistan Gilgit.