Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) will organise a “National Literary Condolence Reference” in the memory of renowned Urdu Humour Writer and Intellectual “Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi” on June 27 (Wednesday) to pay tribute to his extra-ordinary literary contribution.
Director General, National Language Promotion Department (NLPD), Iftikhar Arif will preside over the reference while Federal Secretary, National History and Literary Heritage (NH&LH) 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 Ahmed Yousufi’s literary contributions and personality.
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-ba-dahan’, `Zarguzasht’, `Aab-e-Gum’ and `Sham-e-Shair-e-Yaraan’.
Talking to APP, 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.
