Tahir Buneri: A Reportage Writer

Review written by: Muhammad Ali Dinakhel

Lecturer in Pashto

Govt: AKL PG College Matta, Swat.

A silent spectator and close observer of life, the writer of two

books, one that of poetry ‘Zrra ked a Satalo Sok di’ and the other,

recently published ‘Pukhtana bya Pukhtana di’, an anthology of

reportages, Tahir Buneri, is widely known as a revolutionary

writer. He belongs to Buner. Tahir Buneri had initiated a Pashto

Newspaper ‘Zalaand’ from Quetta, Baluchistan. He is a full-time

writer. He also used to write a series of columns in Nawa-i-Asman.

Besides he was writing in the Daily Wahdat, Abasin, Namoos,

Palwasha, Jaras, Khkula, and Likwal magazines. As already

mentioned his recently published book consists of reportages and

his various visits. His life story is reflected in his book. Basically a

reportage is the reporting of news or the typical style in which this

is done. This anthology of reportages consists of five reportages.

They are: Pukhtana bya Pukhtana di (After all Pukhtuns are

Pukhtuns), Da Istiqlal jishan, Gulona Musafar di, Yaw zal bya pa

Qandahaar ke. His natural humorous touch is seen in all of his

reportages. A lot of less known historical facts and events have

been preserved in his anthology for easy reference. He has

skillfully depicted the geography and other minute details of the

areas which he has visited. Here we find a lot of information about

the literary societies and the development in Pashto literature in

Karachi, Baluchistan and Afghanistan. Numerous literary figures

have also been introduced here in this book. In nutshell, in the

words of Francis Baccon, this book is to be chewed and digested.