Ashfaq Ahmed's death anniversary passes silently

LAHORE - The 6th death anniversary of renowned legendary multilingual writer of literature, broadcaster, playwright, intellectual and spiritualist Ashfaq Ahmad went unnoticed in the provincial capital as no major ceremony was held to commemorate his exemplary services. A sole ceremony in the form of a sitting was organised at his residence but none from his fans or followers and poets bothered to organise any function or ceremony in his honour. However, Pakistan Television (PTV) and Radio Pakistan aired some programmes and leading newspapers published special editions to observe his death anniversary. Some of the private television channels also aired few documentaries and telecasted informative programmes regarding this big literary icon. Talking to TheNation, Khalid Ahmed, eminent poet and Nawa-i-Waqt columnist, said that owing to catastrophic floods, all the literary organisations were unable to organise such ceremonies. He said that presence of the holy month of Ramazan was another reason due to which people were not ready to organise such ceremonies. Ahmed however expected that some ceremonies would be held after Eid-ul-Fitr. Renowned critic Dr Khawaja Muhammad Zikria, veteran teacher of a large number of renowned poets, said, We as a nation do not bother to recognise our writers and poets who are the real heroes rather consume our maximum time discussing cricketers and film stars. He said that unusual circumstances faced by the nation were other reasons, which disallow observing such ceremonies. Ashfaq Ahmed was born on August 22, 1925 in Garhm-ukteshwar village, Ghaziabad, India. Shortly before independence, he migrated to Pakistan and completed his Master in Urdu Literature from Government College, Lahore. During his stay in Europe, he got diplomas in the Italian and French languages from the University of Rome and France. He also got special training diploma in radio broadcasting from New York University. Later, he took out his own monthly literary magazine, Dastaango, and joined Radio Pakistan as a scriptwriter. He was made editor of the popular Urdu weekly, Lail-o-Nahar by government of Pakistan. In 1962, Ashfaq Ahmed started his popular radio programme, Talqeen Shah, which made him immensely popular among the people in towns and villages. He was appointed as director of the Markazi Urdu Board in 1966, which was later renamed as Urdu Science Board, a post he held for 29 years. He wrote many books including Aik Muhabbat So Afsaney, Band Gali, Baba Sahiba, Talqeen Shah, Gadaria, Hairat Kaadah, Hasrat-e-Tameer, Khail Tamasha, Khatiya Watiyaa, Mann Chaley Ka Soda, Shehre Aarzoo, Talism Hosh Afza, Tota Kahani, Uchay Burj Lahore De and Zaviya.