Renowned Urdu Poet Qateel Shifai’s 10th death anniversary was observed on July 11 all over Pakistan by his admirers and lovers of Urdu Poetry. Qateel Shifai was born on 24 December 1919 in Haripur, Hazara Division in British-administrated India. He adopted Qateel Shifai as his pen name in 1938 under which he is known in the world of Urdu poetry, a private news channel reported.
“Qateel” was his pen name and “Shifai” was in the honour of his ‘ustaad’ Hakim Mohammed Shifa whom he considered his mentor. His first ghazal was published in the Lahore weekly Star, edited by Qamar Jalalabadi. In 1946, he was called to Lahore by Nazir Ahmed to work as the assistant editor of the monthly ‘Adab-e-Latif’, a literary magazine published since 1936. He won numerous awards as a lyricist.
Many of his poem collections were published, one amongst them being “Mutriba” which got him the highest literature award in Pakistan. Over 20 collections of verse and over 2,500 songs for Pakistani and Indian films were published. His poetry has been translated into numerous languages including Hindi, Gujarati, English, Russian and Chinese. Qateel Shifai received the ‘Pride of Performance Award’ in 1994 for his contribution to literature, ‘Adamjee Award’, ‘Naqoosh Award’, ‘Abbasin Arts Council Award’ and ‘Amir Khusro Award’ in India. He died on 11 July 2001 in Lahore.
Qateel Shifai remembered
