“Hamesh Khalil, 84, is not only a writer, poet, researcher, critic, political activist, fiction-writer, coloumnist, but also the name of a great era in which we are lucky to live in and which stretches from his first book written in 1948 till today”, said Dr. Hanif Khalil in a reception hosted in honour of Hamesh Khalil at Saleem Raz Lecture Hall of Research Library Peshawar. He has more than scholarly 66 books to his credit in his 66 years of active service to literature and it is now time that he should be given an honorary PhD degree by universities of Peshawar and Balochistan”, he said. “Hamesh Khalil is one of the pioneer builders of Pashto literature and Pashto journalism as evident from his initial journals of Dawraan (time), Jamhoriat (Democracy) and Bagaram newspapers”, the scholar said. Dr. Hanif said that “he remained associated with the political philosophy of Bacha Khan; however, when the nationalist parties deviated from the simple teachings of Bacha Khan and got indulged in worldly corrupt practices, Hamesh Khalil left the party openly and devoted his full energies to scholarly research and despite the fact Hamesh Khalil spent about ten years in prison for his political thoughts. Most of his creative work was completed in those days of prison in 1950s and 60s”. Founder of World Pashto Congress, Saleem Raz talked about his 50-years association with Hamesh Khalil and said that “despite being a strict critic and impartial researcher, Hamesh Khalil is a noble, humble and friendly man, and is free of all prejudices and biases. He said that “Hamesh Khalil not only discovered, edited and compiled the works of 12 classic poets and brought to light the unpublished works of Khushal Khan Khattak, but also wrote excellent critical reviews and biographical sketches of modern day poets and writers”. Saleem Raz said that “it is a pity that the senior most Pashto scholar has been ignored by Pashto media and coloumnists”. Dr. Perveiz Mahjoor said that “Hamesh Khalil’s works should be compiled into different volumes and requested Hamesh Khalil to write his autobiography which will be a fair account of the political and literary history of Pashto and the Pathans of 20th Century”. Founder of the Library, Dr. Fasihuddin said that Hamesh Khalil’s work needs to be translated into Urdu and Pashto as it is full of creative thinking and trend-setting examples. He praised the recently published ‘Pashto-Writers Directory’ by Hamesh Khalil introducing the Pashto poets from 1800 to 1975, and which is the work of an institution but done solely and single-handedly by Hamesh Khalil, he siad. Shahab Aziz Arman said that “the recently completed PhD on Hamesh Khalil by Dr. Javed Iqbal of Balochistan University should be published”. Dr. Chiragh Hussain Shah said that “it is only the credit of Hamesh Khalil who searched for the manuscripts of classic books and then edited and published those works by his own which has made possible the preservation of Pashto literary history. His work and academic contribution is far above than any other writer of the KPk and FATA in the last 50- year. His writings have a message for preservation of language and his ideas of progress, revolution, class-struggle and anti-capitalist movement are yet to be researched by the future scholars”, he said. Hamesh Khalil thanked the organizers of the seminar and narrated about his past and future work and his life struggle and its different phases. The seminar was followed by Q and A session.