Ahmad Faraz remembered on his 17th death anniversary

LAHORE (Dunya News) – Urdu poet Ahmad Faraz left this world on Aug 25, 2008, but the essence of his poetry is immortal.

The nation is observing his 17th death anniversary on Monday (today). He hurtled to the peak of fame with his unique poetic essence and effectiveness.

Ahmad Faraz was born on Jan 12, 1931, in Kohat. When Faraz was in BA, his first collection of poetry, “Tanha Tanha” was published. He gave many colours to Urdu with his poetry.

Ahmad Faraz’s creative nature was characterised by honesty and courage as he used his pen to criticise undemocratic forces and was imprisoned and exiled for six years.

Ahmad Faraz was conferred numerous awards, including the Adam Jee Literary Award, Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Hilal-e-Imtiaz, by the government of Pakistan in recognition of his literary contributions to the Urdu language.

Few people are born in decades who leave their mark over others, Ahmad Faraz was one of them whose work and personality fetched him prominence all around the world.

His poetry instilled the spirit and verve of struggle, determination, and of course romance. He was a revolutionary poet whose work gained him nine remarkable awards on national level while six on international level.

Ahmed Faraz introduced new dimensions to poetry. His work represented and discouraged social evils. Not only that but he also stayed resolute in the face of dictatorship. This led him to write something rebellious. It was owing to his contradiction with Zia-ul-Haq’s regime that he faced imprisonment. On various occasions, he read out anti-Zia poems which undoubtedly infuriated the prevalent regime and he had to face tribulations. With that he can also be termed as a ‘fighter of democracy’.