Munir Niazi

Munir Niazi (1923–2006), born Munir Ahmad at Khanpur, Hoshiarpur district, Punjab (British India), was one of the most distinctive voices of modern Urdu and Punjabi poetry. His early schooling was at Khanpur; after Partition in 1947 his family migrated to Sahiwal, where he passed his matriculation and met the noted poet Majeed Amjad, who became his mentor and friend. He earned an intermediate degree from Sadiq Egerton College, Bahawalpur, and a B.A. from Dayal Singh College, Lahore. In 1949 he launched the weekly Seven Colours from Sahiwal; in 1960 he established the publication institute Al-Misal; he was later associated with Pakistan Television, Lahore. In the 1960s his film songs became super-hits — "Us bewafa ka shehr hai aur hum hain dosto" (Shaheed, 1962) made him one of the foremost movie songwriters of Pakistan. He published thirteen Urdu collections — including Taiz Hawa Aur Tanha Phool, Jungle Mein Dhanak, Dushmanon Ke Darmiyan Shaam and Mah-e-Munir — and three in Punjabi: Safar di Raat, Char Chup Cheezan and Rasta Dassan Walay Tarey. He experimented with poetic forms, forging a new imagery, rhythm and diction; innocence, mythology, nostalgia, dreams, melancholy and romance run through his work. He received the Pride of Performance (1992), the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, and the Pakistan Academy of Letters' Kamal-e-Funn Award (2002). He died of respiratory illness in Lahore on 26 December 2006 and rests in Model Town graveyard.