Born on 18 May 1922 in the village Wazir Kot in Sargodha district, Wazir Agha was recipient of Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his best contributions to Urdu literature. He was an Urdu language writer, poet, essayist and critic. He has written many
Wazir Agha
Born on 18 May 1922 in the village Wazir Kot in Sargodha district, Wazir Agha was recipient of Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his best contributions to Urdu literature. He was an Urdu language writer, poet, essayist and critic. He has written many poetry and prose books. His poems have mostly an element of story. He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize.
Wazir Agha learned Persian from his father, Punjabi from his mother and English from his British friends. During his school years, he developed a strong fondness for Urdu ghazals and started composing poetry on his own. He graduated from Government College, Jhang and later received his master's degree in economics from Government College, Lahore. He gained his PhD from the University of Punjab in 1956 for his research on humour and satire in Urdu Literature.
He was the editor of the college magazine Chanab in Government College, Jhang. In 1944, he came across Salahuddin Ahmad who was the editor of monthly Adabi Duniya. Wazir Agha was asked to contribute by writing essays on topics uncommon in Urdu Literature of that time, such as economics, philosophy and psychology. In 1953, his work on ‘In search of happiness’ was compiled as a book that opened a formal paradigm of research in Urdu literature.
Wazir Agha was also editor and publisher of the literary magazine "Auraq" for many decades. He introduced many theories in Urdu literature. His most famous work is on Urdu humour. His books focus on modern Urdu poets, notably those who have written more poems instead of ghazals.
The Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) has published a book on Wazir Agha's life and work as part of its publishing project, ‘Makers of Pakistani Literature’. He was also Life Fellow of PAL since 1995. He also wrote an autobiography Shaam Ki Mundair Sey.
Wazir Agha was born to a businessman, who obtained 750 acres of land from the British govt. in the Sargodha district and dealt in horses from the Persian-speaking Qizilbash family. Wazir Agha died on 7 September 2010 in Lahore. He was buried in his native village near Sargodha.