LAHORE: Renowned Urdu poet Dr Fakhar Abbas died at a private hospital in Lahore at the age of 50, family members confirmed on Saturday, ending a career that carried his verse from mushaira stages to millions of phone screens.
The poet had been undergoing treatment for liver disease before his death, which occurred the previous night at the hospital where he was receiving care. Funeral prayers were offered before he was laid to rest in his native town of Farooqabad in Sheikhupura district, returning to the town of his birth while his poetic legacy remained tied to Lahore.
For most readers, Dr Fakhar Abbas was inseparable from one work. His poem opening with the line “Yeh jo Lahore se mohabbat hai” travelled far past literary journals, circulating in television clips, wedding-season recitations and social media posts. His verses paired images of Lahore’s streets and the fragrance of love with the bitterness of ordinary life, a mix that gave the city a contemporary voice rather than a nostalgic one.
His professional life ran alongside his literary one. He was born in Dera Mamoora in Sheikhupura district, passed matriculation from St Mary’s High School, Sargodha in 1995, and earned his MBBS from Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore in 2004, where he later remained associated with teaching. He began writing poetry in April 1995. His published collections include “Main Ne Jo Mehsoos Kiya” (1999), “Khushbu Khushbu” (2010) and “Yeh Jo Lahore Se Mohabbat Hai” (2016), written in a style that moved between serious and humorous registers. Those who knew him mourned the loss of a respected teacher as much as a gifted poet.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow over the death in an official condolence message issued the same day. The statement extended sympathy to the bereaved family and prayed for the departed soul to rest in eternal peace. The message follows a pattern of official acknowledgement the Punjab government has extended to writers and poets working in both Urdu and Punjabi.
Literary circles in the city reacted with immediate sorrow, describing the death as the silencing of a distinctive voice at an age when many poets are still building their body of work. Reference sittings are expected in the coming weeks, and colleagues have already begun calling for his scattered and unpublished work to be compiled into a consolidated volume so that a generation of younger readers can access it in print.
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