Progressive poet Ahmed Faraz remembered on his 90th birth anniversary
The 90th birth anniversary of renowned and progressive poet Ahmed Faraz is being observed on Tuesday.
He was considered as one of the greatest modern Urdu poets of his time, a private news channel reported.
He was born on January 12, 1931 in Kohat. His real name was Syed Ahmed Shah.
Faraz was his pseudonym ‘takhallus’. He moved to Peshawar with his family, where he studied in famous Edwardes College and also received Masters in Urdu and Persian from Peshawar University.
The progressive poets Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ali Sardar Jafri were his friends during college days and were his role models.
Faraz, who has been compared often with Faiz Ahmad Faiz, holds a unique position as one of the best poets of present era, with a fine but simple style of writing easily understood by common people.
Faraz wrote extensively on romantic themes but also used poetry as an instrument for political resistance.
He stayed for six years in Britain, Canada and Europe before returning to Pakistan, where he was initially appointed as Chairman, Pakistan Academy of Letters and later chairperson of the Islamabad-based National Book Foundation for several years.
He was awarded numerous national and international awards, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Hilal-e-Pakistan and also Hilal-e-Imtiaz in recognition of his literary achievements in 2004. Faraz died of kidney failure in a private hospital in the federal capital on August 25, 2008.
