Twenty-two years have passed since the death of Ashfaq Ahmed, the celebrated writer, accomplished thinker and enlightened voice whose readers continue to hold his work close. A figure of many dimensions in his craft, he remains among the most widely read Urdu writers of his generation.
The renowned author was born on August 22, 1925 in Muktsar, in the district of Ferozepur. He served as a teacher at Dyal Singh College and at Oriental College, Lahore, institutions that anchored him in the literary and academic life of the city he would make his home.
Ashfaq Ahmed belongs to that group of distinguished writers who came to prominence on the literary horizon immediately after the creation of Pakistan. In 1953, his short story “Gadaria” brought him wide recognition. He also served as editor of the magazines Dastaango and Lail-o-Nihar.
His short story collections were published under the titles Ek Mohabbat Sau Afsanay, Ujlay Phool, Safar Mina, Phulkari and Subhan Afsana. Ek Mohabbat Sau Afsanay and Ujlay Phool are collections of his early short stories.
His later notable works include the travelogue Safar Dar Safar, the novel Khel Kahani, and the drama collections Ek Mohabbat Sau Dramay and Tota Kahani.
The Government of Pakistan conferred on him the Presidential Pride of Performance, the Sitara-e-Imtiaz and the Hilal-e-Imtiaz.
Beyond the printed page, Ashfaq Ahmed reached an audience far larger than that of most literary writers through radio and television. His dramas and his long-running broadcast conversations carried a distinctive register — unhurried, anecdotal, drawing on Sufi thought and the moral texture of everyday life — that made him a household presence in Pakistan for decades. Successive generations encountered him first as a voice, and only afterwards as a writer.
A man of Sufi temperament, Ashfaq Ahmed died in Lahore on September 7, 2004 and is buried in the graveyard at Model Town.
His books remain in print and in circulation, and his television and radio work continues to be shared online, sustaining a readership among people born long after his death. Literary societies and universities in Lahore mark the anniversary each year with readings and discussions of his fiction and his broadcast work.
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