Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi

Introduction

Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi on 20 November 1916 at Koranga in Khushab tehsil of Sargodha.

Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi was a prominent progressisve poet, an Urdu language Pakistani poet,
journalist, literary critic, dramatist and short story author. He was a diamond with multi facets.
His work is not only based in the Urdu language but also English. Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi had
worked in various aspects.

Work as an Editor

Qasmi started his own journal Fanoon in 1962, which survives today; and is still considered to
be a major literary magazine. Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi had been editing the magazine “Funoon”
for about half the century. By doing this, he had been mentoring a whole new generation of
writers. His other works as an editor includes; Phool, Tehzeeb-i-Niswaan, Adab-i-Lateef, Savera,
Naqoosh and Daily Imroze.

Literary Work and Awards

Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi has written a total of fifty books in the following genres; poetry, fiction,
journalism, criticism and art. His Afsanas are equated to that of Prem Chand for their quality of
rural culture depiction. The element of humanism is greatly depicted in his work. He was an
outstanding poet of his time. Not only he received the prestigious Pride of Performance award
but he also possessesd the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.

The Progressive Writers Movement

The realism and literary expression against exploitation in Qasmi’s writing gained him respect
among his peers and in 1948 he was selected as the secretary general of the Anjuman-e-
Taraqqi Pasand Musannifeen (the Progressive Writers Movement) for Punjab from 1948 and
in 1949 was elected the secretary-general of the organisation for Pakistan, a position he held for
six successive years.
This wasn’t all good news for Qasmi, however, as the Progressive Writers Movement was linked
to the 1951 Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, and he was detained for six months under the Safety
Act for his association with the group in 1951.

Qasmi gradually distanced himself from the Progressive Writers Movement, probably
because it became difficult for him, as it did for a number of other writers, to work with some of
the dogmatic communist members. He tried to steer the middle path, opposing the official
orthodoxies on literature as well as the radicalism of some of his peers. There is no question that
he remained a progressive writer all his life; however, he avoided the supremacy of “ideology”
over creativity. For instance, his famous couplet angered many of his leftist colleagues:

Sabz ho, surkh ho, key unnabi

phool ka rang uski baas mein hai

Whether it is green, red or magenta

The colour of a flower lives in its fragrance