Literary world had lost a distinguished personality

Ashfaq Ahmed, (August 22, 1925 – September 7, 2004) was a distinguished writer, playwright, broadcaster, intellectual and spiritualist from Pakistan. His prime qualities of heart and hand earned appreciations across the borders. He was regarded by many as the best Urdu Afsana (short-story) writer after Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chughtai and Krishan Chander following the publication of his famous short-story "Gaddarya" [The Shepherd] in 1955.

Ahmed was born on 22 August 1925 in Garh Muktesar village, Ferozepur district, India. He obtained his early education in his native district.

After partition, 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 got special training diploma in radio broadcasting from New York University.

He started writing stories in his childhood, which were published in Phool magazine. After returning to Pakistan from Europe, he took out his own monthly literary magazine, Dastaango, and joined Radio Pakistan as a script writer. He was made editor of the popular Urdu weekly, Lail-o-Nahar, in place of famous poet Sufi Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum by the government.

In 1962, Ashfaq Ahmed started his popular radio program, Talqeen Shah which made him immensely popular among the people in towns and villages.

Of-late, he used to appear in a get together with his fans in television’s program ‘Baittakh’ and ‘Zaviya’ 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.

Ashfaq Ahmed died on 7 September, 2004 at the age of 79, of pancreatic cancer.

People like Ashfaq Ahmed are national assets and everyone benefited from their writings and experiences. The literary world had lost one of its distinguished personalities.