Khawar Rizvi

Khawar Rizvi was a Pakistani poet and scholar of Urdu and Persian. He was born on 1 June 1938 in Ahmadpur, a small town in Punjab. He inherited poetry from his mother Abida Begum, who was also a poet. His maternal uncle Dr Abul Hassan was a well-known poet and scholar. His father Syed Najm ul Hassan Rizvi was an officer in the armed forces of Pakistan. He received his formal education at Government School, Campbell Pur, now called Attock. He graduated from Government College Attock and then did his post-graduation in literature from the University of Punjab. He started his career as a teacher and then joined the banking sector. He left the banking career due to his abhorrence for any sort of exploitation and joined the department of social security in Pakistan. He was serving as a director in the same department when he died of a sudden lung infection on 15 November 1981. He was buried in his native town of Ahmadpur. Khawar Rizvi was a great lover and admirer of the east, its way of life and its values. He chose the pen-name "Khawar", which means "the east" in Persian, for writing his poetry and essays. He was fluent in Sindhi, Urdu, English, Hindi, Arabic, Balochi, Bengali, Siraiki, Punjabi and Persian. He wrote more than 40 books on various subjects, ranging from literature to politics, culture and poetry. He was also a poet and a critic of Sindhi literature. He was a member of the Progressive Writers' Movement and a follower of Marxism. He was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the nation's second highest civilian award, in 2009. He is regarded as a national hero and a legend in Sindh.