Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 03 Jul 2020, 09:34 pm Print
Islamabad/IBNS: A Baloch poet has rejected an academic award from Pakistan citing the Imran Khan government’s policies ‘inflicted’ on Balochistan that have ‘subjugated’ the populace.
Poet Akbar Barakzai has rejected the award given to him for the best work in Baloch literature.
Barakzai’s book ‘Zaban Zanti-u-Balochi Zaban Zanti’ had been nominated for the Syed Zahoor Shah Hashmi Award by the Pakistani Academy of Letters (PAL), reports The Singapore Post.
Upon hearing about the nominations, he rebuffed the academic award and the accompanying 200,000 rupees cash prize through an email sent to the Chairman of the PAL, Dr Yousuf Khushk, reports the newspaper.
In his email, Barakzai thanked the PAL for the nomination but said that he cannot accept this award.
When asked about his decision, he cited the policies ‘inflicted’ on Balochistan to ‘subjugate’ its populace, the newspaper reported.
- UN officials says UK’s newly passed ‘Safety in Rwanda’ bill is anything but safe
- Israel-Palestine war: UN rights office says mass graves in Gaza show victims' hands were tied
- Pakistan: UN experts express concern over lack of protection for minority girls from forced religious conversions, marriage
- Forty percent Pakistanis are currently living below the poverty line, says World Bank
- Hindu girl abducted in Pakistan, community members slam authority