Ashfaq Ahmed (writer)

Ashfaq Ahmed (Urdu: اشفاق احمد) was a writer, playwright and broadcaster from Pakistan. He authored several books in Urdu including novels, short stories and plays for television and radio of Pakistan. He was awarded President’s Pride of Performance and Sitara-i-Imtiaz for meritorious services in the field of literature and broadcasting.

Early life and family

He was born on 22 August 1925 in Muktsar, Punjab, British India, in an ethnic Pashtun family of the Mohmand tribe. His early education was in Muktsar. Shortly before the partition of India in 1947, he migrated to Pakistan and settled in Lahore, Punjab. Ashfaq Ahmed was a young and energetic boy of 22 years at the time of independence. He completed a Master of Arts degree in Urdu literature from Government College Lahore. Bano Qudsia, his wife and companion in Urdu literary circles who is also one of the best novelists of Urdu, was his classmate at Government College.

Career

He migrated to Pakistan and started his career as clerk, but through his hard work, dedication and commitment rose to be the “Ashfaq Ahmed” a thinker, philosopher and a spiritual celebrity.

He got a job in Radio Azad Kashmir, which was established on a truck that used to drive around in various parts of Kashmir. He also taught in Dayal Singh College Lahore for two years and after that went to Rome to join Radio Rome as an Urdu newscaster. He used to teach Urdu at Rome University Italy. During his stay in Europe, he received diplomas in the Italian and French languages from the University of Rome and University of Grenoble, France. He also earned a special training diploma in radio broadcasting from New York University.

He started writing stories in his childhood, which were published in Phool [Flower] magazine. After returning to Pakistan from Europe, he took out his own monthly literary magazine, Dastaango [Story Teller], and joined Radio Pakistan as a script writer. He was appointed director of the Markazi Urdu Board in 1966, which was later renamed as Urdu Science Board. He remained with the board until 1979. He remained editor of Weekly Leilo-Nihar and Monthly Dastan Go. He was honorary chief editor of Monthly Sukhii Ghar and member of numerous language and educational boards. He also served as adviser in the Education Ministry during Zia-ul-Haq’s regime. He was proficient in the languages like Punjabi, Urdu, English, Italian and French. He had been to many countries in the world like USA, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holand, Lebanon, Iran, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and many other countries.

Radio and tv shows

In 1962, Ashfaq Ahmed started his popular radio program, Talqeen Shah [The Preacher] which made him immensely popular among the people in towns and villages. Ashfaq Ahmed was a great source of inspiration for the young generation. His radio character “Talqeen Shah” was a dominating character. Only two characters on radio were applauded a lot during that period one was “Talqeen Shah” and other was “Nizam Deen”. It was a weekly feature that ran for three decades, the longest weekly radio show in the subcontinent. In the 60s, he produced a feature film, Dhoop aur Saie [Shadows and Sunshine], which was not very successful at the box office.His TV programme “Zavia” will also be remembered forever.

Radio plays

• Talqeen Shah (1962)
• Baithak (The Guest Room)

His popular TV showsinclude

• Uchhay Burj Lahore De / اُچے برج لاہور دے
• Tali Thallay / ٹالی تھلے
• Tota Kahani (1970s) / توتا کہانی
• Aik Mohabbat Sau Afsanay (1975–76) / ایک محبت سو افسانے
• Aur Dramay / اور ڈرامے
• Zavia / زاویہ

Books

Later years and death

Besides his personality as a great author of impressive and laudable books, Ashfaq Ahmed, in his later period of life, was greatly inclined towards sufism, which was visibly reflected in most of his works. His close association with Qudrat Ullah Shahab and Mumtaz Mufti was also attributed for this tendency. Of-late, he used to appear in a get together with his fans in television’s program ‘Baittakh’ [The Guest Room] and ‘Zaviya’ [The Dimension] wherein he gave swift but satisfying responses to each and every query, placed before him, explicitly by the youth of each gender, in a mystic style. Besides his multidimensional commitments, Ashfaq Ahmed was very loving and caring for his literary community. Anyone who ever approached “Dastan Sarai” where he used to live was never left un attended. He always gave proper respect to the people coming to him and never ever felt hesitant to go along with them for solving their personal problems. Ashfaq Ahmed died on 7 September 2004 at the age of 79, of pancreatic cancer. He was laid to rest in Model Town, Lahore Pakistan.