KOHAT, Aug 26: Renowned poet Ahmad Faraz, who passed away in Islamabad on Monday, was born in Koocha Jaffar Shah of Mohallah Miankhel in Kohat on Jan 14, 1931. He spent his childhood in the Kohat city. His father Mahmood Shah, also a famous poet and known as Agha Barq, was transferred to Peshawar when Ahmad Faraz was studying in primary school.

Faraz was third among four brothers. His elder brothers and father died abroad. Barrister Masud Kausar, a former speaker of the NWFP Assembly and former senator, is his youngest brother, who is a practicing lawyer at the Peshawar High Court and is settled in Peshawar.

Faraz’s death has deprived us not just of an institution but of a person with numerous sacrifices for democracy. He will be remembered for years for bringing poetry to its zenith. It will not be exaggeration to call him the ‘caliph of poets’ who influenced the thoughts of his contemporaries and gave new meaning to poetry.

His last visit to his hometown of Kohat was on March 7, 2008, when he was invited by DIGP Zulfiqar Cheema, considered a lover of art and literature, to a Mushaira at his official residence.

Annoyed by the attitude of the then district government, Faraz had five years ago announced publicly that he would not visit Kohat ever. Then district nazim Malik Asad had asked the Tehsil Municipal Administration to demolish the Jinnah Library, built in 1951, and build a plaza for generating more income. Thousands of people had an emotional attachment with the library where poets, in the early days of Independence, used to hold meetings and Mushairas frequently. It was like a coffee house of Kohat.

Social and literary circles, besides students who had benefited from the library, vehemently criticised the decision of the nazim and requested him to cancel the project. But the nazim was adamant to continue with the project. The library was demolished quickly during night and a signboard of the Jinnah Arcade was erected by the contractor at the site.

Disturbed by this, Faraz announced he would never come to Kohat where libraries were demolished to build commercial plazas.

Before reciting his first poem at the residence of the DIGP on March 7 he did recall his decision saying “pehlay bhi meray peechay police lagi rehti thi aur ab bhi lagi hui hay”. The DIGP had sent me dozens of requests through my friends so I had to come to Kohat, he had said.

He was suffering from loss of memory and weakness but he recited all poems on the request of the audience and of his own choice.

For the first time his famous poem ‘Hisar’ echoed in open air and the audience gave him a standing ovation at the end of the poem.

His son Saadi Faraz, a retired colonel, and some of his fans helped him in completing his poems whenever he forgot a verse due to weakening memory. He remained stuck to his mission and returned the Sitara-i-Imtiaz awarded to him by then President Pervez Musharraf in 2007.