KARACHI: Senior poet, better known for editing his monthly journal, Afkar, Sehba Luckhnavi who died here on Saturday night was buried on Sunday afternoon in Paposhnagar graveyard.

The veteran writer and literary journalist Sehba, who launched his literary journal from pre-partition Bhopal and later shifted to Karachi in the early 50s, ran the journal for 57 years, and maintained its standard, punctuality being his forte. Sehba Sahib was the first editor whose journal published special volumes on living luminaries such as Josh, Hafeez, Faiz, Majaz, Manto and many others.

Some of Afkar’s special numbers were prescribed for post- graduate studies by the Urdu Department of the University of Karachi and other universities. Sehba, a hardworking and meticulous editor, was known as a ‘one-man institution.’ He was, however, fortunate to have earned the support of noted city writers in bringing out his journal. Mujtaba Husain, Saher Ansari, Anjum Azmi, Mohammed Ali Siddiqui, also a co-editor, to name a few. His office on Robson Road, till a decade ago, was taken as a rendezvous for city writers where Sehba would greet them warmly. Despite his failing health at the fag end of life, he kept himself busy with the journal and frequently visited the office on Marston Road, close to Shahrah-i-Quaid-i-Azam, to supervise its working. Afkar in Sehba’s lifetime was turned into a Foundation.

The late Sehba Luckhnavi had to his credit a poetry collection, Mah Paray, a travelogue, Meray khaaboon ki sarzamin (about former East Pakistan), and Iqbal aur Bhopal. Manto Aek Kitab, edited by Dr Hanif Fauq, was another prime publication from the house of Afkar. He leaves behind his wife, a son, Syed Asif, and four daughters, apart from hundreds of mourners in and outside Pakistan.—Hasan Abidi