Pashto poet, activist passes away

PESHAWAR:

Pashto poet, intellectual and an active proponent of the Quit India and Khudai Khidmatgar movements, Jahanzeb Niaz passed away on Friday. He was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Rajar, Charsadda and is survived by his four children.

He was born on June 27, 1927. In his later years, Jahanzeb might have appeared as anachronistic in these modern times. However, he had lived through a period of wrenching change and found his place amid all chaos of history.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Mirwais Niaz, his son, said Jahanzeb was actively involved in student politics during his college years.

“My father was sent to prison when he was in class nine for participating in a civil disobedience movement against the British,” he said. “He took his matriculation examinations while he was in jail.”

Political lineage

However, it appeared as if his life was inextricably linked to the political cataclysms of his times.

As the nephew of the founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly known as Bacha Khan, Jahanzeb constantly found himself in the line of fire. Kazim Niaz, his other son, told The Express Tribune politics was the lifeblood of his father’s student years and continued to loom large throughout his life.

“He often told me about how he learnt how to shave in jail,” he said.  Jahanzeb was also repeatedly arrested for his activism.

Picking up the pieces

Young Jahanzeb was released a few years later and attempted to set himself in the right direction.  According to Mirwais, his father completed a bachelor’s degree from Islamia College, Peshawar.

“He went to Lahore to pursue higher studies,” he said. “He earned a master’s degree in geography from Government College Lahore.”

After he returned to Peshawar, Jahanzeb started teaching at Islamia College. However, his love and admiration for languages drew him to pursue other interests.

“My father received a scholarship and went to the US to study linguistics,” he said. “When he returned, he decided to teach geography at University of Peshawar. But later, he earned a master’s degree in in Pashto.” Jahanzeb later joined Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar and later retired as the chairman.

“My father was a poet and writer,” Kazim said. “Although he did not obtain a doctorate, he pioneered the PhD programme in Pashto literature, at University of Peshawar. Jahanzeb explored a range of themes through his writing. His oeuvre boasts a rich array of poetry and prose.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2015.