Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: December 26 marks the death anniversaries of two great revolutionary poets: Munir Niazi and Parveen Shakir, who left an everlasting impact on the modern Urdu literature.

Parveen Shakir was born in Karachi and completed Masters in English and became an acclaimed poet with her first published collection ‘Khushbu’ in 1976. Following ‘Khushbu’, she further wrote volumes ‘Sadburg’ and ‘Khudkalami’.

After her last published work ‘Inkaar’ in 1990, ‘Kaf-e-Aina’ was published posthumously in 1996. All of her collections can be viewed in the volume called ‘Maah-e-Tamam’.

She was popular for her outspoken feminist sentiments in poetry and received country’s highest award – Pride of Performance – for her significant contribution to the Urdu literature. She also served as a teacher and a civil servant.

Belonging to the generation before Perveen Shakir, Munir Niazi was born in 1928 in India and following independence of Pakistan migrated to Sahiwal with his family.

Known for his melodious ghazals and harmonious poems, Niazi also penned songs for famous films like ‘Uss bewafa ka shehr hai aur ham hein dosto’ for Shaheed (1962) and ‘Zinda rahen to kya hai jo mar jaaen ham to kya’ for Kharidar (1976).

Unlike Shakir who wrote in Urdu, Niazi also had command over Punjabi and published three of his works in Punjabi namely ‘Safar di Raat’, ‘Char Chup Cheezan’ and ‘Rasta Dasan Walay Teray’. Some of his Urdu collections include ‘Taiz Hawa aur Tanha Phool’, ‘Jungle main Dhanak’ and ‘Mah-e-Munir’.

While it has been 20 years since Shakir’s sad demise in a car accident in Lahore in 1994, Niazi passed away in 2006 after suffering from a respiratory disease.

Fans of Urdu poetry remembered both poets by sharing their poetry on social websites.

Tameer-e-Nau: Rawalpindi Arts Council organized a stage play ‘Tameer-e-Nau’ and arranged a cake-cutting ceremony to mark the birth anniversary of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah on Tuesday.

The drama was written and directed by Aslam Mughal and the cast included Afzaal Lateefi, Saeed Anwar, Jhalak Ali, Imran Rushdi, Shama Niazi, Faqeer Hussain, Naeem Buba ang Ghyas Mastana.

It was a thematic play, highlighting messages through characters of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his sister Fatima Jinnah.

The first appearance was made after collapse of a building due to bomb blast and talked to each other that Pakistan was not made for such purpose.

Some negative characters were also part of the play.

The last part of the drama based on the message that people need not to get disappointed and follow the footsteps of Quaid-e-Azam.

Member Punjab Assembly MPA Raja Hanif was the chief guest.

Addressing on the occasion, Raja Hanif said that renewing the pledge to follow Quaid’s guiding principle of unity, faith and discipline, thus promoting prosperity, peace and harmony and consolidating democratic process in the country.

“The youth has an inevitable role in the progress and development of the society. They are the ones who have to find solutions to the national problems.

It’s the responsibility of all of us to provide them adequate opportunities and boost their innovation and mental skills in order to make them vital tools for nation’s progress,” Director RAC Waqar Ahmed said in his welcome address.

After the play, a cake cutting ceremony was also held in which MPA Raja Hanif along with Naheed Manzoor and Director RAC Waqar Ahmed cut the cake and paid tribute to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Published in Daily Times, December 27^th 2017.