Mukhtar Masood

Mukhtar Masood (15 December 1926 – 15 April 2017) was a renowned Pakistani Urdu writer and bureaucrat.

Early life and career[]

Born in Sialkot, Punjab, British India on 15 December 1926, to Shaikh Ataullah (1896-1968), a well-known literary scholar and professor of economics at the Aligarh Muslim University originally from Jalalpur Jattan in the Gujrat district of Punjab, Masood was a graduate of the AMU as well.^[1] He migrated to Pakistan after partition of India. In 1949, he passed Central Superior Services (CSS) examination and went on to serve at different important positions such as commissioner and federal secretary.

He wrote four books – Awaz-e-Dost, Safer Naseeb, Harf-e-Shouq, Loh-e-Ayyam – all of which are highly regarded in literary circles of Pakistan for their elegant prose and immaculate style.^[2] His last book was Harf-i-shouq that was published in July 2017.^[3]

To honor his contributions to Pakistani literature, he was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz.

He died in Lahore on 15 April 2017.^[4]

Bibliography[]

Books by him[]

• Eye witnesses of history; a collection of letters addressed to Quaid-i-Azam, 1968. Edited by Mukhtar Masood.
• Āvāz-i dost, 1973. An account of the Pakistan Movement.
• Safar naṣīb, 1981. Reminiscences of a Pakistani civil service officer; includes travel impressions of different parts of the world.
• Lauḥ-i ayyām, 1996. On the Islamic revolution of Iran, 1979, written by a civil servant who had been there for four years during the revolution.
• Ḥarf-i shauq, 2018. Autobiographical reminiscences of an Urdu author and ex-civil servant of Pakistan, with special reference to his college life in Aligarh Muslim University; include one chapter on Sir Sayyid Aḥmad K̲h̲ān̲, 1817–1898.

Books about him[]

• Muk̲h̲tār Masʻūd kā uslūb, 2013, by Alt̤āf Yūsufzaʼī. Critical study of his works.

References[]