MUKHTAR Masood died in Lahore on April 15, 2017.
Generally known as a writer of Urdu, with a distinctive style and elegance that became the hallmark of his prose, Mukhtar Masood earned kudos as a civil servant, too. He had held many important posts and served as federal secretary, head of various government organisations and general secretary of the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD). During the construction of Minar-i-Pakistan in Lahore, he was Lahore’s deputy commissioner and played an important role in the execution of the project that envisioned this national and historic landmark.
Mukhtar Masood’s date and place of birth had been a disputed issue. Different dates and places are often mentioned, ranging from 1918 to 1926 and from Gujrat district (Punjab) to Aligarh, while the author himself never bothered to mention it. But, according to recently carried out research at Lahore’s Punjab University, Mukhtar Masood was born in Sialkot on Dec 15, 1926.
Mukhtar Masood’s father, Sheikh ‘Ataullah (1896-1968), though a professor of economics, from 1929 to 1948, at Aligarh Muslim University, is known for his literary works. Sheikh ‘Ataullah, hailing from Jalalpur Jattan, Gujrat district, had settled in Aligarh. He had compiled in two volumes Iqbal nama, the letters by Iqbal, as well as Intikhab-i-makateeb, a selection of letters by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Shibli Nomani and Iqbal. In addition to translating Aurangzeb Alamgir’s Persian letters into Urdu, Sheikh ‘Ataullah also translated Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall’s book Oriental encounters: Palestine and Syria and his lectures on Islamic culture.
Mukhtar Masood was educated at Aligarh from the very beginning and graduated from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). He was infused with a profound love for Pakistan and its founders for many at the AMU, including his father, were supporters of Pakistan Movement, a passion that later mirrored in his writings, especially his first book Aawaaz-i-dost (1973). Migrating to Pakistan with the other members of the family in 1948, Mukhtar Masood appeared in Pakistan’s first competitive examinations held in January 1949 and was selected.
As a civil servant, Mukhtar Masood had the reputation of being a man of high integrity, never comprising on principles or national interests. It won him highly respectable positions and he was made in 1978 — having headed a couple of organisations, federal ministries and government departments earlier — the secretary general of the RCD for four years and was posted at Tehran. The RCD was established in 1964 by Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, as they were members of the Central Treaty Organisation (Cento) in the region. But at the time of Masood’s posting, the political movement against Shah of Iran was at its peak and with the establishment of the Islamic revolutionary government a little later, the RCD was dissolved in 1979 and Mukhtar Masood became RCD’s last secretary general. His third book, Lauh-i-ayyaam (1996), is an eyewitness account of some of the events that took place during the anti-Shah movement, ending in the Islamic Revolution and Shah’s ouster.
Mukhtar Masood’s books are acclaimed for their beautiful Urdu prose and a deep sense of patriotism, though their interior monologue, nostalgic accounts, Persian and Urdu couplets, frequent references to history or literature and an occasional ornamental parlance at times render them a bit esoteric. But for the readers with a literary background and a zest for belles-lettres they are gripping reads.
Aawaaz-i-dost, the first of his three books, narrating the historic moments in the run-up to the birth of Pakistan and recalling some of the great literary and political personalities and their characters, was an instant success, making the author a literary figure overnight and running into several editions within a few years.
Mukhtar Masood’s semi-philosophic musings and thought-provoking remarks are more pronounced in his second book, Safar naseeb (1981). A collection of his memoirs and travel accounts, the book carries Mukhtar Masood’s hallmark of elegant prose. In his third book Lauh-i-ayyaam, Mukhtar Masood describes, as put by himself, the moment-by-moment eyewitness account of the Iranian Revolution with all its details. With his command of the language, keen observations and a deep sense of history-in-the-making, the book is considered one of the important sources in Urdu on the Iranian Revolution.
Mukhtar Masood was awarded the prestigious civil award Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 2003.
By virtue of peculiar style and elegant prose, his books make Mukhtar Masood stand among such master practitioners of the art of elegant Urdu prose as Mirza Ghalib, Mohammad Hussain Azad, Abul Kalam Azad, Hasan Nizami, Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi, Jameel Jalibi and Aslam Farrukhi, though one cannot name them all in one breath as they have their own, innate individual style and all of them have uniquely different and elegant manner.
With the departure of Mukhtar Masood we have lost a prose writer whose many musings have become quotable and proverbial.
Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2017
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