Born: 22 August 1925
Died: 7 September 2004
Aged: 79
Location: Lahore, Pakistan
Works on: Fiction, Sufism
Subjects: Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, Socialism
Literary movement: Sufi literature
Best books: Zaviya, Aik Muhabbat Sau Afsanay, Gadaria, Talqeen Shah, Mun Chalay Ka Sauda, Hairat Kadah
About His Life
- Ahmed was born on 22 August 1925 in Garhmukteshwar village, Ghaziabad, British India.
- He obtained his early education in his native district. Shortly before independence in 1947,
- he migrated to Pakistan and made the Punjab metropolis, Lahore as his abode.
- He completed his Masters in Urdu literature from Government College Lahore.
- Bano Qudsia, his wife and companion in Urdu literary circles who is also one of the best novelists of Urdu, was his classmate at Government College.
- After Partition, when Ashfaq Ahmed arrived at the Walton refugee camp with millions of other migrants,
- he used to make announcements on a megaphone round the clock. Later, 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 then got lectureship at Dayal Singh College, Lahore for two years.
- Whereafter, he went to Rome to join Radio Rome as an Urdu newscaster.
- He also used to teach Urdu at Rome university. During his stay in Europe,
- he got diplomas in the Italian and French languages from the University of Rome and University of Grenoble, France.
- 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 [Flower] magazine. After returning to Pakistan from Europe,
- he took out his own monthly literary magazine, Dastaango [Story Teller],
- and joined Radio Pakistan as a script writer. He was made editor of the popular Urdu weekly, Lail-o-Nahar [Day and Night],
- in place of famous poet Sufi Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum by the Government of Pakistan.
- In 1962, Ashfaq Ahmed started his popular radio program, Talqeen Shah [The Preacher] which made him immensely popular among the people in towns and villages.
- It was a weekly feature that ran for three decades,
- the longest weekly radio show in the subcontinent. He was appointed director of the Markazi Urdu Board in 1966,
- which was later renamed as Urdu Science Board, a post he held for 29 years. He remained with the board until 1979.
- He also served as adviser in the Education Ministry during Zia-ul-Haq's regime. In the 60s, he produced a feature film,
- Dhoop aur Saie [Shadows and Sunshine], which was not very successful at the box office.
