Daily Times

MULTAN: Ustad Qais Fareedi’s tragic demise has closed another chapter of poetry in one of the ancient regional language of Saraiki, an Indo-Aryan language of the Lahnda group, spoken in the south-western half of the province of Punjab in Pakistan.

The veteran poet’s funeral prayers were offered in his ancestral village on Friday evening.

He was born in 1950, and his real name was Mureen Hussain. He started learning poetry at the age of 10 in 1960.

At the time of adolescence, he chose “Qais Fareedi” as his pen name which later became popular in the world of Saraiki literature.

His famous poetic works include “Aam Sham”, “Ardaas”, “Tu Soojraj main Suraj Mukhi” and “Parkhara” which captivated thousands of poetry lovers.

Furthermore, the prominent poet made rich contributions in Saraiki ghazals through his unique style and gifted voice.

By creating new genre in Saraiki poetry, Fareedi used his artistic qualities in the ancient language and influenced the Saraiki people in terms of reasoning and lines of thought.

During 1977’s martial law, he expressed pain, agony and cruelty of rulers through his poetry. One of his famous couplet was “Hayati saari tayn peeta hay hasratan da zehar, kamal hay jo wala vi tu Qais mar na sagya” which means you have drunk poison of wishes for whole of your life, and yet it is unbelievable that you did not die.

Published in Daily Times, August 4^th 2018.