Staff Reporter
Peshawar
The 11th death anniversary of renowned poet Ahmed Faraz was observed across the country and also in some cities abroad on Sunday. Special programs were organized to pay tributes to the great poet. Ahmad Faraz was considered as one of the greatest modern Urdu poets of his time. He was born on January 12, 1931 in Kohat, as Syed Ahmed Shah. Faraz was his pseudonym ‘takhallus’. He moved to Peshawar with his family, where he studied in famous Edwardes College and received Masters in Urdu and Persian from Peshawar University.
The progressive poets Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ali Sardar Jafri were his friends during college day, who impressed him and became his role models. Faraz has been compared with Faiz Ahmad Faiz, holds a unique position as one of the abest poets of current times, with a fine but simple style of writing, which can be understood by common people. Faraz was arrested for writing poems that criticized military rulers in Pakistan during the reign of General Zia-ul-Haq. Following that arrest, he went into a self-imposed exile. He stayed for 6 years in Britain, Canada and Europe before returning to Pakistan.
