Khawar Rizvi

Khawar Rizvi
Syed Sibte Hassan Rizvi

Khawar Rizvi (June 1, 1938 – November 15, 1981) was a prominent poet of Urdu and Persian. He was respected as an enlightened intellectual and scholar as well. Mainly his fame is due to his poetry. His real name was Syed Sibte Hassan Rizvi. He adopted "Khawar" as his pen-name for writing poetry and essays. Khawar means in Persian "The East". Khawar was a great lover and admirer of East, eastern way of life and eastern values.

Khawar Rizvi belonged to a noble Syed Family. He was born on 1 June 1938. Some sources claim that his actual year of birth was 1936 but the official documents show that he was born in 1938. He inherited poetry from his mother Abida Begum who herself was a poet of high caliber though most of her poetry could not be preserved. His maternal uncle Dr Abul Hassan was a well-known poet and scholar. Bano Saidpuri an eminent poet was his aunt. The father of Khawar Rizvi, Syed Najm ul Hassan Rizvi belonged to Armed forces of Pakistan. He fully supported and encouraged his son to become a great man.

Khawar Rizvi was fond of knowledge and learning since his early childhood. He received his formal education at Government School, Campbell Pur now called . He graduated from Government College Attock. Afterwards he post-graduated in Literature from the University of Punjab. He started his career as a teacher then he joined banking sector and became a competent banker. Due to his abhorrence for any sort of exploitation and depriving the poor from their rights he left banking career despite an uncertain future ahead of him. To serve people better, Khawar joined the department of Social Security in Pakistan. He was serving in the same department as a Director when he died of sudden heart attack on 15 November 1981 while journeying from his home town to his work place. His funeral was attended by thousands of people and he was buried in the graveyard of Ahmad Pur Sial, a historical small town in Jhang District, Pakistan. His death at the age of 43 was widely mourned throughout the continent, especially in the region of South Asia.

Khawar Rizvi was not an armchair thinker or a drawing room revolutionary. He actively participated in the political and intellectual movements of his times. He belonged to famous Progressive Writers' Movement in the sub-continent of India and Pakistan. Khawar was against all sorts and types of tyranny, dictatorship, subjugation and exploitation. Due to his ideology and political beliefs he became the victim of General Zia-ul-Haq’s policies, the then dictator ruler of Pakistan. He fought for the freedom of expression, civil liberties, human rights, equality and alleviation of poverty.