Faiz- A Born Poet and A Socialist
(Muhammad Ahmer Khan, Karachi)
Faiz Ahmed Faiz was born in Narowal district Sialkot in a small town called "Kala Qadir" in a Muslim family in 1911. His father Sultan Muhammad Khan was a barrister in british government.
He did his matriculation and intermediate from Scotch Mission high school Sialkot. Later he moved to Lahore to get admissioned in Government College to continue his higher studies.
When he Got Admission in B.A he met with some intellectuals teachers Patras Bukhari, chiragh hasan Hasrat, and M.D Taseer and His Islamic Teacher Shams ul ulama Mualvi Syed Mir hasan(also the teacher of Dr. Iqbal)
When he appointed as a Lecturer in Amritsr He got himself engaged in politics of Left wing and held meetings with Sajjad Zaheer(Communist Leader before partition) and the other communists and leftists.
He had a immense Love to humans, and middle class peoples, kissans. His poetry is a reflection of peace and justice to the ground root level people. After studying Marxism, the Socialist thinking of Faiz presided over his poetry and his romantic poetry become the revolutionary poetry.
He was also serve as second lieutenant in British Army in Second World war. Later in 1951 he was accused with the fake conspiracy case about to de-rail the newly Pakistani Government resulting sentenced to 3 years in prison in Hyderabad, lahore and montgomery jails.
In 1962 he was awarded with the Highest Award of United Soviet socialists republic(USSR) "The Lenin Peace Prize" (after the name of Vladmir Lenin) by the Soviet Union.
During Bhutto's regime he was self exiled to europe mostly in London.
In Zia ul Haq's dictatorship he was himself exiled to Beirut, Lebanon where He was a Editor of Socialists Newspaper "LOTS" . His relationship with Yasir Arafat and PLO remarks imutable effects on the socialism.
After coming back to Pakistan He died at the age of 73 in 1984 in Lahore.
His work has been translated in English, French, Russian, German, Hindi and Farsi.