Abdullah Hussain

ISLAMABAD: Abdullah Hussain and Afzal Ahsan Randhawa have been nominated for Kamal-e-Fun Award 2012 and 2013 respectively by a jury nominated by Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL).

Abdullah Hussain, 82, has been writing for the last 50 years and his novel Udas Naslain was the bestseller.

Afzal Ahsan Randhawa is a Punjabi writer. He has written several novels in the Punjabi language including Sooraj Grehan and Doaba.

Kamal-e-Fun Award is the highest literary award in the field of literature for recognition of lifetime achievement in creative and research work. The amount of the award is Rs 500,000.

Chairman PAL Dr Qasim Bughio, while speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, said although the jury was named by PAL, it had no role in the nomination of the award winners.

The jury was headed by Masood Ashar while writers Dr Shahid Iqbal Kamran, Dr Riaz Majeed, Hafeez Khan, Iqbal Naseem Khattak, Taj Baloch, Munir Ahmed Badini, Dr Nazir Tabassum and Dr Munaza Yaqoob were its members.

Afzal Ahsan Randhawa

Mr Boghio said moreover 12 writers were selected as writers of best books for the year 2013 and each writer would get Rs100,000 as a National Literary Award.

Replying to a question the PAL chairman said President of Pakistan was likely to be the chief guest at the award distribution ceremony. Head of the jury Masood Ashar told Dawn that the jury unanimously selec ted Abdullah Hussain for the award whereas Afzal Ahsan Randhawa got split but majority vote.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2015

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