LAHORE: Afzal Tauseef, a prolific progressive writer and columnist, passed away in Lahore on Tuesday. She was 78.

According to Tauseef’s nephew Rana Naveed, a journalist, his aunt was fine a day before her death and had no medical complications. She was admitted to Alshafi Hospital in Iqbal Town on Monday last but could not survive.

Her funeral was held at Iqbal Town’s Karim Block graveyard. Prominent among the participants were members of the Punjabi Adabi Board, representatives of the Pakistan Academy of Letters, writers Kanwal Feroz and Parveen Malik, Baba Najmi and a number of journalists.

Her Qul will be held at 318 Badar Block, Iqbal Town at 11am on Wednesday (today).

A 2010 recipient of the Pride of Performance, Afzal Tauseef was born on May 18, 1936 at Simbli village, Hoshairpur, East Punjab. After migration Tauseef’s family crossing through a blood of river reached Walton Camp in Lahore. Most of her paternal family was slain during the partition.

Her father, Chaudhry Mehdi Khan, was a police officer who got an opportunity to serve Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Ziarat. Tauseef’s family then settled in Quetta. She did her matriculation from the Government Girls School, Quetta and bachelors from the Government Girls College, Quetta. For higher education, she moved to Lahore and did her master’s in English from the Government College, Lahore.

She also took admission to Oriental College but left it for some personal reasons and did her MA Urdu (private). After completing her studies she taught for some time at Home Economics College and later started teaching at the College of Education and remained there till her retirement.

Tauseef penned 30 books in Punjabi and Urdu and wrote articles for different newspapers. Her travelogue based on an Indian trip ‘Waelay Dey Pheechay Pheechay’ was published by the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture.

She was among those pioneer writers such as Shafqat Tanvir Mirza who visited all provinces of the country and came up with recommendations that Punjab should also have an institute of language and culture. After that the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture was formed.

She always spoke for the oppressed and down-trodden. Her autobiography ‘Dekhi Teri Duniya’ won her many accolades.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2014