Ata ul Haq Qasmi (

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

, ur, ) is a Pakistani Urdu-language

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short ess ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

. He has written around twenty books and many articles on different subjects for the leading newspapers of Pakistan.Profile of Ata ul Haq Qasmi on Pakistan Times (newspaper)
Retrieved 19 May 2019

Early life and career

Qasmi was born in

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Maj ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

in 1943. His family has

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Barua ...

roots. His father Maulana Baha ul Haq Qasmi used to teach at MAO High School and MAO College in Amritsar. After independence of Pakistan in 1947, his family migrated to Pakistan and first settled in

Wazirabad Wazirabad (Urdu/ pa, ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Wazirabad District. Famous for its cutlery products, it is known as the city of cutlery and is also quite famous for its foods. Wazirabad is situated on the banks of ...

and later moved to

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...

where he finished his high school. He then graduated from MAO College, Lahore. He first joined the Urdu language newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt as a sub-editor where the renowned journalist

Majid Nizami Majid or majeed may refer to: * , ''majīd'' 'majestic', and , ''mājid'' 'magnificent', two names of God in Islam Arts and entertainment * ''Majid'' (film), a 2010 Moroccan film *Majid (rapper) (born 1975), a Danish rapper of Moroccan-Berber orig ...

was the editor. Later he started writing columns for Daily Jang and many other newspapers. The most distinguished character of Qasmi's column is his satire on social inequalities of the society and his anti-

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

stance which he boldly takes in his columns. He has a unique style of writing compared to any other columnist due to the humorous way he handles even the serious issues in the country.Profile of Ata ul Haq Qasmi on hipinpakistan.com website
Retrieved 19 May 2019 He served as the

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

of Pakistan in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

from 1997 to 1999. His books and newspaper columns include "Column Tamam", "Shar Goshiyan", "Hansna Rona Mana Hay", "Mazeed Ganjey Farishtey" and many more while his TV

Drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

Serials include the most popular PTV TV dramas

Khawaja and Son ''Khajawa and Son'', Pakistani TV show (began in 1985) is a comedy serial that revolves around Khawaja Sahib (played by Ali Ejaz) and his son Jawad (played by Aurangzeb). It is directed by Ayub Khawar and written by Ata ul Haq Qasmi.

(1988), "Shab Daig" and "Aap ka Khadim" popularly known by its character "Sheeda Taili". "Shab Daig" and "Sheeda Talli" were directed and produced by Mushtaque Choudhary. His travelogues ''Shoq-e-Awargi'' and ''Goron kay des mein'' are widely read and popular among the readers. In early 2015, he was serving as the honorary Chairman of the Lahore Arts Council,

, Pakistan. Veteran Pakistani journalist Altaf Gauhar had once named him the wittiest newspaper columnist in Pakistan. The well-known writer Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi has called him the best newspaper columnist in the country. He has been working as a journalist for 52 years. In 2015, he was appointed Chairman for Pakistan Television Corporation, a state-owned institution, where he served till December 2017.Ata ul Haq Qasmi appointed Chairman of Pakistan Television Corporation on Aaj TV website
Published 31 Dec 2015, Retrieved 19 May 2019 He has been associated and involved with Pakistani television for over 35 years as a

.Profile of Ata ul Haq Qasmi on Pakistan Press Foundation website
Retrieved 19 May 2019

Awards and recognition

* Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan in 1991 * Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan * Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Crescent of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan in 2014Ata ul Haq Qasmi's Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award info listed on Dawn (newspaper)
Published 24 March 2014, Retrieved 19 May 2019

References

External links

Ata ul Haq Qasmi's newspaper column

Detailed List of Daily Jang (newspaper) Columnists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qasmi, Ata Ul Haq 1943 births Living people Pakistani male journalists Pakistani columnists Punjabi people Pakistani people of Kashmiri descent Ambassadors of Pakistan to Norway Ambassadors of Pakistan to Thailand Recipients of the Pride of Performance Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz Poets from Lahore Pakistan Television Corporation executives Journalists from Lahore Urdu-language columnists Urdu-language writers Urdu-language dramatists and playwrights Urdu-language poets from Pakistan 20th-century Pakistani poets