Khaliq Ibrahim — end of a quiet, clean and rich life

In the passing on Friday morning of Khaliq Ibrahim Khaliq, writer, poet, committed progressive and renowned maker of documentaries, civil society that by the day gets poorer in its stock of cultured men as one by one they leave us, has suffered another impoverishment. Utterly himself with not the slightest affectation of manner, or cunning and contrivance, he exuded a special charm that genuineness bestows. Remaining true to his commitment was no ordeal for him nor leading a life free of remorse and contrition a test of his elements. And this was so because he saw no wrong in denying himself the refined pleasures of a good life and the joys of a sprightly intellect and the sense of fulfilment that only creative people experience. Those who have read Manzilein Gard ke Manind, his magnum opus in which he records his observations and remembrances of his early life and what it was to be young in the ferment of those days, know the man had drunk the cup of life to its dregs.

In Bombay where he started his career as a documentary maker together with Safdar Meer there was a brief romantic interlude with upcoming star Nutan that could have materialised into something more than a crush had not Partition divided land and lives.

Khaliq Ibrahim belonged to a renowned family of tabeebs of Kashmiri descent who had settled in Lucknow and were active in progressive politics and literary pursuits. He had his early education at home under a scholar of Mirza Askari’s stature. While still an undergraduate he brought out Aag, a leftist magazine with his father, Hakim Mohammad Rafiq Ibrahim. He graduated from the Punjab University with distinction. This was the most productive period of his literary life. His short stories and verse and critical essays were published in leading magazines of the subcontinent. Before joining the Information Films of India he briefly served as Maulvi Abdul Haque’s secretary. In Pakistan he had an unbroken tenure with the films department of the information ministry. Among his renowned documentaries one of which received international recognition at Cannes are: Pathways to Prosperity, One Acre of Land, Cultural Heritage of Pakistan, Pakistan Story, Fan-i-Tameer and Mirza Ghalib. He also directed a film on Quaid-i- Azam that Gen Ziaul Haque did not allow to be exhibited for political reasons. Among his published works are: Kamyab, Nakam, Aurat, Mard aur Dunya, Urdu Ghazal ke Pachchees Sal, Pakistan Story, Ujalon ke Khwab and Manzilein Gard ke Manind his last work. He wanted to write its Pakistan sequel also but his long illness of the last two years did not permit that. He leaves behind his writer wife Hamra, sons Harris Khaliq, poet and human rights activist, and Tariq Khaliq, journalist.

Khaliq aao chalein bazm-i-mai guzaran mein
Draz sham ki tarikyon ke saey huey