Dareechah-e-Nigaarish

Khatir Ghaznavi (1925-2008) . . .   a modern Urdu Ghazal poet from Pakistan

Bio Sketch courtesy of YouTube channels Saqi Hasan

ساقی حسن
خاموش تماشائی
(KhamoshTamashai)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61vi9xuNbWk 

His real name was Mirza Muhammad Ibrahim Baig مرزا محمد ابراہیم بیگ, while his pen name was Khatir Ghaznavi خاطر غزنوی (takhallus: Khatir خاطر). He was born on 31st October 1925 in Peshawar. He was the only child of his parents. His family had immigrated from Ghazni غزنی, Afghanistan افغانستان, to northern Pakistani province of Khebar Pakhtoon Khwaa (known as North Western Frontier Province during British colonial rule over India).
He started his career as a bursar (cashier) with All India Radio's Peshawar Studios where he worked from 1943 to 1947. After the creation of Pakistan, he stayed with Radio Pakistan until 1962. Following his graduation, he proceeded to China on a deputation to learn the Chinese language. After getting his masters degree in Urdu Literature, he joined the Peshawar University as a lecturer, from where he retired as the Chairman of the Urdu Department. He set up the Chinese language Department at the Peshawar University. He also worked as the Head of Pakistan Studies Department and held the Urdu Chair at the University of Malaya where he learned the Malay language. His last position was the Director General of the Pakistan Academy of Letters, Islamabad, where he worked for about a year.

Along with Farigh Bukhari فارغ بُخاری and Raza Hamdani رضا ہمدانی, he started an Urdu literary magazine from Peshawar which had a section devoted to Pashto پشتو culture and literature. He founded Baithak بیٹھک, a Hindko ہندکو (a language very similar to Punjabi) literary organization. He did research on Hindko language and proposed that Urdu language might have had its origins in the Hindko language. He was also a founding member of the Abbaaseen Arts Council اباسین آرٹس کونسل, Peshawar, Pakistan. He was fluent in many languages, including Pashto پشتو, Hindko ہندکو, Urdu, English, Chinese, and Malay.

 He published four collections of his poetry as well as a verse translation of Khushaal Khan Khattak's pashto poetry. He authored about 45 books, most of them in Urdu and Hindko. Among his non-poetic works are Suba Sarhad Kay Roomaan صوبہ سرحد کے رومان, and a translation of Khushal Khattak's خوشحال خان خٹک Dastaar Naama دستار نامہ. He loved books and donated about 6,000 books to the Qartaba University and about 22,000 books to the Peshawar University. He passed away in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, on 6th July 2008 and was buried in his ancestral graveyard in Peshawar.