LAHORE: The 15th death anniversary of renowned urdu poet, Ahmed Faraz, was observed on Friday here with literary zeal.
Ahmad Faraz was born on January 12, 1931 in Kohat. He real name was Syed Ahmad Shah. He studied at Edward’s College, Peshawar and received his Master’s degree in Urdu and Persian from Peshawar University. During his college life, the two poets Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ali Sardar Jafri influenced him and became Faraz’s role models. He started his career as a script writer from Radio Pakistan, Peshawar and later joined Urdu Department of Peshawar University as a lecturer.
Later on, he took up senior positions of administrative nature as Resident Director of Pakistan National Centre, and subsequently the Director of ‘academy Adaptability Pakistan,’ Lok Virsa and Chairperson of National Book Foundation.
A widely respected poet, Faraz received several awards. Some of these include Adamji Award, Abaseen Award, Kamal-e-Fun Award, and Hilal-e-Imtiyaz award, which he returned registering his displeasure with the country’s governance. He was decorated with Hilal-e-Pakistan award by the Government of Pakistan posthumously.
Faraz started writing poetry while he was still a young college student. He emerged as a ghazal poet with an individual signature of his own. Even while he drew upon the traditional subjects of love and romance, he also wrote his age in his poetry with all its despairs and disappointments and produced some of the finest specimens of resistance poetry.
He was a prolific poet with several anthologies to his credit. These include Tanha Tanha, Dard-e-Aashob, Janan Janan, Shubkhoon, Merey Khwab Reza Reza, Beaawara Gali Koochon Mein, Nabeena Shar Mein Aaeena, Pus Andaz Mausam, and Khwab-e-Gul Pareshan Hai.
