Shafqat Tanvir Mirza passes away

Former Imroze editor wrote numero­us books.

LAHORE:

Writer and journalist Shafqat Tanveer Mirza (STM) passed away following a protracted illness here on Tuesday. He was 80. He had been suffering from cancer.

Mirza was born on February 6, 1932, in Domeli area of district Jehlum. He studied at schools in Chakwal, Khushab, Wazirabad, Attock, Bahawalnagar and at Gordon College Rawalpindi.

Mirza worked for dailies Tameer and Hilal in Rawalpindi as well as at Radio Pakistan at Rawalpindi. In 1970, he joined Musawat. Later, he worked for Imroze where he became the editor.

Journalist Raja Aurangzeb, who first met Mirza in 1970, told The Express Tribune “There are many things I will miss about him. I have lost a brother today [yesterday]. It will leave a void time cannot cure,” he said.

Aurangzeb, who also joined the Pakistan Union of Journalists with Mirza, said Mirza’s services to the Punjabi language were unmatched.



As a journalist union leader, Shafqat Tanvir Mirza, popularly referred to as STM, was sent to jail twice. The first time during his struggle for daily Musawat, and later in the campaign for the Pakistan Times.

He also taught at Shah Hussain College until it was nationalised. After Imroze was closed down, he joined the weekly Viewpoint before joining Dawn in mid-1990s.

STM contributed regular columns on the Punjabi language and culture until his death on November 20, 2012. He is survived by his wife, Tamkinat Ara, and daughter, Tabashra Bano.

He was awarded the Presidential Award for Pride of Performance in 2005. Besides writing several books in Punjab and about Punjabi language and literature, he also translated a number of works from English literature into Punjabi. These included Lahoo Suhaag and Boha Koe Na. He also wrote a book, Shah Hussain, in Urdu and translated the Seraiki prose of Sachal Sarmast into Punjabi in Akhia Sachal Sarmast Nay.



Mirza was laid to rest in the DHA graveyard near his residence on Tuesday evening. The funeral was attended by a large number of journalists, writers, intellectuals, poets besides family members and friends.

Books:

Tehreek-i-Azadi Vich Punjab da Hissa (Punjabi)

Adab Raheen Punjab de Tareekh (Punjabi)

Resistance Themes in Punjabi Literature (English)

Making of a nation (English)

Shah Hussain, a biography (Urdu)

Translations:

Lahu suhag (Blood Wedding by Spanish writer Garcia Lorca)

Booha Koeena (No Exit by French writer Jean Paul Sartre)

Akhia Sachal Sarmast nay

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2012.