Ahmad Faraz who was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz and posthumously the Hilal-e-Pakistan is ranked among the greatest Urdu poets of the current era
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-August 25th, 2020) Renowned progressive poet Ahmed Faraz’s 12th death anniversary was being observed today (Tuesday).
Ahmed Faraz is ranked among the greatest urdu poets of the current era.
Faraz died of kidney failure in a private hospital in Islamabad on 25 August 2008. His funeral was held on the evening of 26 August.
Ahmad Faraz was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-e-Imtiaz and posthumously the Hilal-e-Pakistan by Government of Pakistan for his contribution to poetry and Urdu literature. His famous poetry books were Jana Jana, Pas-e-Andaz-e-Mausam and Nayaft.
He was born on January 12, 1931 in Kohat, as Syed Ahmed Shah. Faraz was his pseudonym ‘takhallus’. He moved to Peshawar with his family, where he studied in famous Edwardes College and received Masters in Urdu and Persian from Peshawar University.
Faraz wrote extensively on romantic themes but he also used poetry as an instrument for political resistance. He raised his voice against the military dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq and was arrested for it.
Following that arrest, he went into a self-imposed exile. He stayed for 6 years in Britain, Canada and Europe before returning to Pakistan, where he was initially appointed as Chairman of the Pakistan academy of Letters and later chairperson of the Islamabad-based National Book Foundation for several years.
The progressive poets Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ali Sardar Jafri were his friends during college day, who impressed him and became his role models. Faraz has been compared with Faiz Ahmad Faiz, holds a unique position as one of the best poets of current times, with a fine but simple style of writing, which can be understood by common people.
