Daily Times

The Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) will organize a ‘National Literary Condolence Reference’ in the memory of renowned Urdu humour writer and intellectual Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi on Wednesday (tomorrow) to pay tribute to his extraordinary literary contribution.

Director General National Language Promotion Department (NLPD) Iftikhar Arif will preside over the reference while Federal Secretary National History and Literary Heritage Division Engineer Amir Hasan will be the chief guest on the occasion.

Renowned literary persons including Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik, Kishwar Naheed, Professor Anwar Masood, Masood Mufti and others will express their views about Mushtaq Yousufi’s literary contributions and personality.

Iftikhar Arif said he has never come across a writer so particular about the usage and application of words as Yousufi. “His works are not only the epitome of Urdu literary humour but his books are the representation of finest form of Urdu literature that a very few writers have produced,” he observed.

Meanwhile, Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) will hold a condolence reference next week at its main campus to pay homage to the renowned writer late Mushtaq Yousufi.

Yousufi, who died last week, was the most widely read Urdu humour and comic writer in the second half of the 20th century. The reference is part of series initiated by Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Siddiqui to remember those national figures who achieved a great name in their respective professions and became a source of inspiration for the young generation.

The event, being arranged by the university’s department of Urdu, will be presided over by the vice chancellor. Eminent literary personalities including Ataul Haq Qasmi, Iftikar Arif, Prof Fateha Muhammad Malik and Dr Tahir Masood are likely to attend the reference.

Yousufi was born on August 4, 1923 in the then princely state of Tonk in United India .His father was the political secretary of the state. Yousufi migrated to Pakistan in 1956 and became a career banker.

In recognition of his contributions to Urdu literature, the government conferred upon him two highest literary awards Sitara-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-i-Imtiaz in 1999 and 2002 respectively. The popular works of Yousufi include ‘Chiragh Talay’, ‘Khakam badahan’, ‘Zarguzasht’, ‘Aab-e-Gum’ and ‘Sham-e-Shair-e-Yaraan’.

Published in Daily Times, June 26^th 2018.