Important Personalities

Daim Iqbal Daim

didA Punjabi, Sufi poet and author of at least 120 books, Daim was born in 1909 in Mandi Bahauddin. He wrote in Urdu and Persian as well. His books titled Sohni Mahinwal, Shahnama Karbala, Shahnama Haidari, Shahnama Ghausia, Ki Janan Me Kaun and Kambal Posh are famous.

Amrita Pritam

apThe famous Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi, is considered the first prominent female Punjabi poet, novelist, essayist and the leading 20th century poet of the Punjabi language. She was born as Amrit Kaur in 1919 in Mandi Bahauddin. She is equally loved on both sides of the India-Pakistan border. With a career spanning over six decades, she produced over 100 books of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs, and an autobiography that were all translated into several Indian and foreign languages.

Ahmad Salim

asMuhammad Salim Khawaja alias Ahmad Salim was born in the village of Miana Gondal in District Mandi Bahauddin on January 26, 1945. He is a writer, archivist and co-founder of the South Asian Research and Resource Centre, a private archive established in 2001. He worked with Faiz Ahmad Faiz at National Council of Arts from 1972 to 1975 and operated the Folklore Research Centre and published material on Punjabi and Sindhi folklore. Ahmad Salim also taught at Sindh University, Jamshoro (1976-77). He taught a course on Pakistani languages, the course material was developed by him. Ahmad Salim’s principal work at the Sindh University was to translate Shah Hussain’s poetry into Sindhi, and Bhitai’s work into Punjabi, though he could not complete the latter. Salim has been associated with the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in various capacities since 1996 and worked there till 2007 as Director of Urdu Publications.

Dr. Khizar Naushahi

knDr. Naushahi was born in Sahenpal Sharif, Mandi Bahauddin into a family of extraordinary men of letters. His tiny village had produced seven PhDs. One of his uncles who has had no formal schooling in his entire life, had written more than 300 articles on various topics related to religion and literature. Dr. Naushahi is a scholar who has devoted major part of his life to research on old manuscripts of Persian literature produced by Sindhi literati of bygone era. He has literally combed almost all public and private libraries in Sindh for long lost and forgotten works of Persian literature.

Usman Ali

usman aliBorn in Mandi Bahauddin in 1978, Usman Ali is a Pakistani English playwright and theatre director. His English language plays The Guilt, The Last Metaphor, The Odyssey, The Prisoners, The Breath, and The Flute have been published and performed in Pakistan, with three upcoming runs at the Royal Court Theatre in London. He has also written a script for ‘An Imagined Interview with Robert Frost’ and the dramatic script for ‘Hamlet’s Madness: Feigned or Real’ enacted at British Council’s celebration of Shakespeare’s birthday. He has to his credit an English translation of a book on Gulzar ‘The Speaking Silence’. Above all, he has laid the foundation of Ali’s Theatre in this remote area. He has also won Taufiq Rafat Drama Prize 2016. Usman Ali’s work has been treasured by International Centre for Pakistani Writing in English (ICPWE) and acknowledged by the contemporary writers and directors like famous English dramatist Edward Bond, Dr. Elizabeth Kuti, Lisa Schlesinger, Roberta Liverto, David Gothard, Dr. Claire Chambers, Muhammad Athar Tahir and Muneeza Shamsie. Moreover, he participates courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the United States Department of State.

Manzoor Ahmad Wasib

manzoor wasibA living legend, barely maintaining his subsistence level, a scholar who is a human dictionary plus encyclopedia of Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit, Manzoor Ahmad Wasib is a gem hidden in the junk of education-unfriendly environment of village Gojra of Mandi Bahauddin. Wasib has made a poetic translation of Diwan-e-Ghalib and Mirza Bedil’s Persian poetry in Punjabi.