Prof Hasan Abid’s death condoled | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Prof Hasan Abid’s death condoled

ISLAMABAD, May 7: Writers, poets and intellectuals of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Monday expressed deep shock and grief over the death of Prof Hasan Abid, a noted poet, teacher and co-author of Urdu quarterly magazine Irtiqa.

Prof Hasan Abid died in Karachi late Sunday.

Talking to Dawn, writers and poets, including Ashfaq Saleem Mirza, Kishwar Naheed, Iftikhar Arif, Harris Khalique, Ravish Nadeem, and Dr Nazir Mahmud said in the death of Prof Hasan Abid Pakistani literature has lost a great poet, intellectual and humanist.

They said prof Hasan Abid’s contribution to Pakistani literature, in general, and progressive thought, in particular, through Irtiqa magazine is unmatched.

With a team of fellow committed writers, political activists and social scientists, Prof Hasan Abid had been publishing the magazine regularly with Marxist leanings for about 20 years.

“His stature as an arch ghazal poet besides having a modern idiom in nazm was acknowledged equally at home and abroad”, said Ashfaq Saleem Mirza.

Prof Hasan Abid served as a professor of Urdu literature at the prestigious D.J. Science College, Karachi, the oldest institute in Sindh, for many years and retired some times back. His services to the teachings of Urdu language and literature were enormous, Harris Khalique said.

His was a life of a committed humanist who believed in socialist ideals, he added.

Prof Hasan Abid published five volumes of his poetry, including Soch Nagar, Rang Laaya Hey Junoon, Ashnayian and Roz-o-Shab.

Recalling Prof Abid’s poetry, Harris Khalique quoted his couplet: Hava karti hey apna kam aur shammein bhujati hey

Hum apna kam kartein hein nai shammein jalatein hein.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/8/2007