KARACHI: Renowned Urdu poet Ada Jafri passed away after a long illness here on Thursday. She was 90.

Jafri was born in Badayun, India, in 1924. She migrated to Karachi with her husband after the partition of the subcontinent.

Her real name was Aziz Jahan. She adopted her pen name after marriage.

Ada Jafri was the first major published woman poet in Urdu which was why she was often referred to as the first lady of Urdu poetry. Although she dabbled in different genres of literature, including the short story, she was primarily known as a ghazal writer.

One of her ghazals ‘Honton pe kabhi unn ke mera naam bhi aaey’ was sung and popularised by the late Ustad Amanat Ali Khan.

She published six books — ‘Main Saaz Dhoondti Rahi’, ‘Shehr-i-Dard’, ‘Ghazala Tum To Waqif Ho’, ‘Harf-i-Shanasai’, ‘Safar Baqi’ and ‘Jo Rahi Sau Be Khabari Rahi’.

She was the recipient of several awards, including the Baba-i-Urdu award from the Pakistan Academy of Letters.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2015

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