Members of the Pakistani community celebrated an evening of verses with noted Pakistani poet Tauqir Ahmed Sharifi in Doha. Sharifi, who is also a serving engineer working with a national construction firm in Saudi Arabia is on a tour of the region where he meets friends and participates in literary and poetry sessions.
In an informal gathering organised by Mohamed Riaz, vice president-projects, Saudi Cable Company and a member of Pakistan Engineers Forum-Qatar (PEF-Q), local poets and literary personalities from different Pakistani community organisations got together to give a reception to the visiting poet.
Sharifi is a veteran engineer who has served for the government of Pakistan for decades. He started poetry as a hobby but his works in Urdu language soon gave him a large audience. A collection of his ghazals (a form of Urdu poetry) have made it to music industry and been sung by local Pakistani singers. He has also published a book of collection of his poetry. However, Shafiri says he never thought his work would make it to print.
“I was guided by Saleem Akhtar Malik who is himself a poet and a literary personality. He first saw me reciting a ghazal at a mushaira (poetic symposium) organised by Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq. He got hold of me after the mushaira and asked why did not have a book or why I was not more regular at mushairas,” Sharifi told the audience, on the evening while reciting a selection of his poetry at MovenPick Hotel.
Sharifi, who is also the General Manager of National Power Construction Corporation, credited Malik for persuading him to publish his collection of poetry. The book was published by Mawra Publication house in Pakistan. It was well-received and gathered critical appreciation from poets and readers of Urdu poetry. “I am particularly happy that whenever I have been to mushairas and gatherings of friends I have always recited my most recent works, and not from the book,” said Sharifi, who is a regular writer.
A native of Lahore, the poet also invited the members of Pakistani literary organisations present at the occasion to visit Khawaja Fareed Shakar Pakistan, of which he is a chairman, whenever they visit Pakistan. “Through our organisation we are trying to promote the youngsters; the upcoming poets in Pakistan. These poets often find it difficult to find a prominent platform. Every month we organise poetry sessions for young poets who come from different parts of the country,” said Sharifi.
Sharing his life experiences with the audience, the guest poet acknowledged his mentors and people who taught him skills required to succeed in life. He also mentioned Government College (GC) Lahore, which is now a university, as the institution from where he learned the most of his social skills that further polished his knack for poetry and writing. Sharifi said he is also working to help counsel youngsters on their career paths if they choose literature for it.
“I am also Vice Chairman of Fikr-Iqbal Forum which is a new organisation. At from this platform we are trying to bring our younger generation close to Allama Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan and let them better understand his works,” Sharifi told the audience.
He urged the members of the audience as influential literary personalities to work more for the promotion of Urdu language in Pakistan and in other parts of the world.
Born in 1949 in Lahore, Sharifi comes from a literary family. He obtained his initial education from Multan, where his father was serving as a doctor. He graduated from GC Lahore in 1966 and later graduated as electrical engineer in 1970. He has been living in Saudi Arabia for a long period where he worked for an engineering firm. He is also a fellow of Pakistan Institute of Engineers and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is also one of the first authors of Electrical Safety Code.
Sharifi found his love for poetry while studying at Government College Lahore and started writing poems and ghazals. He kept contributing to college magazines with his poetry in the Engineering College as well. The first poetic collection Yaad ke Kinary has already been published while he is currently working on publishing his second collection.


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