PESHAWAR: Noted Pashto and Urdu poet, research scholar and literary critic Riaz Tasneem died in a Karachi hospital on Monday morning after battling for life for more than a month.

He left behind a son, a daughter and widow. He was laid to rest in Rasheedabad, Karachi Site area the same day. Pashto poets, writers, fans and family members attended his funeral. He had been bedridden for chronic liver cirrhosis for the last few years.

Literary circles in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta termed the untimely death of Riaz Tasneem an irreparable loss for Pashto language and literature.

Expressing his views in Peshawar on Monday, Prof Abaseen Yousafzai said that with the sad demise of a literary figure, Pashto had lost a precious gem, who believed in the true spirit of literary substance and genuine creativity. A critic par excellence and a poet, the late Tasneem’s vacuum would take long to fill, he added.

Born in Swatu village, Charsadda district in 1969, he did his intermediate from Islamia College Peshawar. He moved to Karachi in early 90s and qualified his graduation from Karachi University as a private candidate and joined police service but also used to serve as teacher at a private school.

Writers say Riaz Tasneem believed in true spirit of literary substance

While in Peshawar, he started his career as a sub-editor at a Pashto daily, Wahdat, and participated in literary events. He used to contribute to Pashto and Urdu newspapers and literary journals on various literary and research topics.

Makham Khattak, a Karachi-based poet and friend of Riaz Tasneem, told this scribe that the late poet was in fact a great humanist and strongly believed in the power of pen. He said that Tasneem enjoyed good relations with Urdu literati in Karachi and was respected among Urdu literary circles.

Riaz Tasneem got affiliated with literary organisations both Pashto and Urdu in Karachi and shot to fame as a progressive poet when his maiden Pashto poetry collection ‘Da Kum Rang May Kasheed Karhay’ was published in 2003. It was followed by his second and third poetry volumes namely “Chandarh” and “Za Ka Da Waray Oda Shwam” which received widespread appreciation from Pashto poetry lovers.

He was known for his scathing style of literary criticism but he was held in high esteem among literary circles for his deep insight and genuine scholarship.

The late poet had also researched and published a selected poetry of Khushal Khan Khattak (Da Khushal Intekhab) in his lifetime. His unique literary creation that saw light of the day while still alive was ‘ Bed No 28’ a literary reportage when he was hospitalised in Jinnah hospital, Karachi , last year on bed No. 28 for exactly 28 days while a collection of his Urdu poetry couldn’t be published owing to his poor financial position.

Riaz Tasneem remained affiliated with a popular Pashto journal ‘Jaras’ published from Karachi for a long time and profusely contributed to its different sections.

Published in Dawn, December 05th, 2017