Khatir Ghaznavi

Mohammad Ibrahim Baig (5 November 1925 – 7 July 2008), known by his pen name Khatir Ghaznavi; romanized: K̲h̲āt̤ir G̲h̲aznavī, was a Pakistani multilingual writer, poet, playwright, research scholar, and director of Pakistan Academy of Letters.^[1][2] He wrote about forty-five to fifty books, including poems and children's books in

Ghaznavi was born as Mohammad Ibrahim Baig to an Afghan family in one of the ethnic groups of Afghanistan. His family originally belonged to central Afghanistan of Ghazni, and later migrated to Peshawar where he was raised. He had four daughters and three sons.

He did his

He served director of a research foundation Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) at Islamabad where he was involved in scholarly research with national academy. He was actively involved with literary organizations and tertiary institutions and served vice president of the Progressive Writers' Association for North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and chairperson of the University of Peshawar for Urdu department.

During his initial or later career, he worked as a photographer and had photographed a large number of historical photos of the Pakistan Movement, which were later published by a research institute of Peshawar Gandhara Hindko Board (GHB) in its daily Indo-Aryan linguistic cultural-based publication titled "Hindkowan"^[b][3][4][1]

Literary career

Ghaznavi started his career as a clerk at All India Radio, and was subsequently given Radio producer and then programme organizer designation during his seven years service. Between 1942 and 1962, he served as a producer at Radio Pakistan, including at its domestic service branches such as Peshawar and Rawalpindi. He also taught abroad and went to Malaysia, where he was assigned to write a "dictionary of common words" in specified languages such as Urdu and Malay. The dictionary, which is not-known was later published by the Government of Malaysia. He served head of the department (HOD) at the University of Malaya for Pakistan studies and Urdu department. He is also credited for introducing the Department of Chinese at the University of Peshawar.

He wrote his first novel at the time when he was studying in a school. He wrote about forty five books, including poetry. All of his poetic books published in Hindko language are collectively known as "Koonjan". He is also credited for translating Khushal Khattak's poetry into Urdu or Hindko. His poetry Khwab Dar Khwab is recognized one of the prominent books among his other writings. He wrote a book on Hindko that covers geography and its history. The book was later published by the National Language Promotion Department in 2003.^[2][5]

Urdu research

Ghaznavi played a significant role in Urdu language development besides Pashto and Hindko. His contribution was recognized by the government on national level. However, his research into Urdu literature is sometimes considered "

During his last days, he donated his all publications, including poetry, research and manuscripts, to the University of Peshawar where his books are preserved in a library.^[3]

Awards and honors

• Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan in 1999.^[2]

Death

Ghaznavi spent his last days in extreme difficult situation due to his

• g̲h̲Aznavī, K̲h̲āt̤ir (1977). Phūl aur patthar: Nāvilaṭ. Kitāb Kār. p. 88.
• g̲h̲Aznavī, K̲h̲āt̤ir (1979). Rup rang: Ürdu poetry. University Book Agency. p. 128.
• Sarhad ki rumani kahaniyan: Compiled and translated by Khatir Ghaznavi. Lokversa. 1985.
• g̲h̲Aznavī, K̲h̲āt̤ir (1985). K̲h̲vāb dar k̲h̲vāb. Sang-i Mīl Pablīkeshanz. p. 192.
• g̲h̲Aznavī, K̲h̲āt̤ir (2001). ايک كمره: ايک كمرے كا خاكه، ايک جاكوں بھرا خاكه. سنڈيكيٹ آف رائٹرز. p. 176.

References