Abaseen Yousafzai (Pashto, Urdu: اباسين يوسفزے) is a Pakistani Pashto and Urdu language poet. He is the chairman of the Pashto Department in Islamia College Peshawar.^[4][5][6] Yousafzai has had his poetry published across the Durand Line.^[7] He joined the Islamia College Peshawar as a lecturer of Pashto in 1993.^[8]

Works

Yousafzai has written three poetry collections: Ghurzanguna (1994), Alwat (2005), and Maraam (2016). Ghurzanguna is published in up to ten editions and Alwat in five editions. Yousafzai was given a book launch ceremony from the Abasin Arts Council for Alwat.^[9] His book, Da Pakhtunkhwa Bani, is a biography of Malek Ahmad Baba, who founded the State of Pakhtunkhwa in 1520.^[10] Yousafzai conducted research on the concept of nationalism in Pashto poetry. The title of the thesis was "Concept of nationality in the poetry of Hamza Shinwari".^[8]

Literary services and contributions

Dr. Abaseen Yousafzai is a widely recognized Pashto poet,^[11] research scholar, literary critic, and column writer. In addition to these, he is also a noted radio and TV anchor-person. He was born in 1964 in Khanpur, a small village in the district Lower Dir of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He pursued his LLB from Peshawar University in 1986 and master's degree in Pashto literature in 1988. He completed his Ph.D. in Pashto in 2016.^[12][13] He is the author of ten books of Pashto and Urdu and is the recipient of about 400 Shields/awards for outstanding literary and social services. He has also been awarded with the Presidential Award by the Government of Afghanistan ^[14] for his literary contribution to Pashto literature. Dr. Abaseen Yousafzai has also been awarded with the Pride of Performance (Presidential Award by the Government Of Pakistan) in recognition to his excellent performance in the field of “ Poetry, Column, Research & Criticism, TV, Radio, Stage Anchor and Cultural Activist”.^[15]

He has been contributing to Pashto language and literature for the last 40 years,.^[16] Being a well-known figure, he remains an integral part of most of literary events across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan.^[17] He has contributed his critical and research treatises on numerous Pashto and Urdu journals on variety of topics. He has also written forewords to around 200 Pashto and Urdu books.

He had initiated his teaching career at the Islamia College University in 1993 and is currently serving as the Head Department of Pashto.

He has published three poetry books published in Pashto language. Ghurzangoona is his first Pashto poetry book published in 1994. Alwat is his second book published in 2005. His third book is Maraam^[18] which was published in 2016.^[19]

Additionally, he has published seven prose books. Ruhnama (in Pashto) was published in 2002, Zaitoon Bano: Fun aur Shakhsiat ( in Urdu) was published in 2008, Khutbaate Imam Khataab (in Pashto) was published in 2010, Sadako's prayer (in Pashto) was published in 2012, Understanding Fata, (Pashto translation) was published in 2012, Da Pakhtunkhwa Baani (Pashto) was published in 2016, Pakhtun Hamza (Pashto research) was published in 2019. Dr. Abaseen Yousafzai has recently designed the Pashto syllabus from KG to 12th grades under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Education (DCTE).^[20] He has anchored popular Pashto and Urdu shows including Wagme, Trang, Yadgerana, Ghazalzar and Shar-e- Insaniat on the State-run radio and TV. He has written scripts and conducted various literary, social, cultural, and informative programmes for PTV Home, PTV-2, PTV National, PTV NEWS, some private TV and FM radios -101 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Yousafzai has completed numerous literary, research, and cultural projects^[21] with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture Directorate. He is affiliated with hundreds of literary, cultural, social and humanitarian organizations as well as mentoring a large number of young talent in pursuing their literary, cultural, and research studies.^[22]

References