Riaz Tasneem (1969 – 4 December 2017; sometimes spelled Riaz Tasnim or Riyaz Tasneem), was a Pakistani poet,

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

and research scholar who primarily wrote poems in

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

and

Urdu language Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

throughout his literary career. He is believed to have played a significant contribution to Pashto language and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Early life

Riaz was born in 1969 at Swatu village of Charsadda district in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

. He received his initial schooling from

Islamia College University Islamia College Peshawar (ICP) () is a public university located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

, and later moved to

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

where he did his graduation from the

University of Karachi The University of Karachi (; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (which is ...

as a private candidate. After completing his education, Riaz then joined law enforcement task force and subsequently served teacher at a private school. He originally started his career at a Pashto newspaper called Wahdat and served as a sub-editor. As a writer, he was also involved in literary events. He contributed to Urdu newspapers and literary journals on numerous literary topics, including research.

Literary work

As a progressive poet, Riaz established his

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

ic associations with literary organizations in Pashto and Urdu. He published his

Pashto poetry Pashto literature () refers to literature and poetry in Pashto language. History The history of Pashto literature spreads over five thousands years having its roots in the oral tradition of Tappa (Pashto: ټپه/لنډۍ). However, the first ...

collection in 2003 entitled "Da Kum Rang May Kasheed Karhay", and subsequently published his second and third poetry collections in Pashto language entitled "Chandarh" and "Za Ka Da Waray Oda Shwam". He is also credited for researching and publishing

Khushal Khattak Khushal Khan Khattak (Pashto: خوشال خان خټک; ; 1613 – 20 February 1689), also known as Khushal Baba (), was a 17th-century Afghan Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them from Pa ...

's poetry entitled "Da Khushal Intekhab". Later, he started writing literary Journalistic essays in Urdu language called "Bed No. 28". However, it was not published due to his

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with Bank run#Systemic banki ...

. He contribution was also involved in a Pashto journal called Jaras.

Death

Riaz was suffering from

chronic liver disease Chronic liver disease in the clinical context is a disease process of the liver that involves a process of progressive destruction and regeneration of the liver parenchyma leading to fibrosis and cirrhosis. "Chronic liver disease" refers to diseas ...

and died of

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, chronic liver failure or chronic hepatic failure and end-stage liver disease, is a chronic condition of the liver in which the normal functioning tissue, or parenchyma, is replaced ...

at a

hospital on 4 December 2017. He is buried in Rasheedabad,

SITE Town SITE Town (), located in the southern part of Karachi, Pakistan, is named after the Sindh Industrial & Trading Estate. It was established in 2001 under the Local Government Ordinance and subdivided into nine union councils. In 2011, the town s ...

, Karachi of

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

province.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasneem, Riaz 1969 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Pakistani poets Islamia College University alumni University of Karachi alumni Urdu-language poets from Pakistan Pashto-language poets People from Charsadda District, Pakistan Deaths from cirrhosis