| Khurshid Anwar Jilani | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Khurshid Anwar |
| Also known as | Jilani |
| Born | September 3, 1904 Zira, Punjab, British India |
| Origin | Pakistani |
| Died | February 28, 1963 (aged 54) Rawalpindi, Pakistan |
| Occupations | Attorney, Poet, Author, Radio talk show writer and Philanthropist |
| Years active | 1937–1963 |
Khurshid Anwar Jilani (1904–1963) was an attorney, author, poet, radio talk show writer and philanthropist.
Contents |
Born in Zira (Punjab in British India) on September 3, 1904, migrated to Pakistan after Independence. In 1934, he earned his Bachelor's degree from the University of the Punjab, Lahore and later graduated from Law College Lahore.
Besides his many unpublished works due to his sudden death to thyroid cancer, he authored "Flora Neelofer", "Chughatta", "Do Musafir" and "Anvarat" in Urdu fiction, in addition to translations of Masnavi Maulana Rome and Rubatayet Omar Khayam, from Persian to versified Urdu and English, still in the works for publishing. His mini articles "reportaz" and "Bhukshu ki Dua" enjoyed big readership.
As a Trustee of the Rawalpindi city, rehabilitating the refugees from the biggest human migration of mankind in 1947; he accidentally came across hundreds of thousands of published and unpublished books, manuscripts, and works of art. These very rare, invaluable, hand written, miniature illustrated works or books were being dumped over a patio in the local court house, by city workers. These included manuscripts of "Shahnama-e-Firdausi", "Tuzk-e- Babri" , "Gulistan-e-Saadi", "Rubayat-e-Omar Khayam", "Baghdadee Bibles" and "Quran".
In 1948 he founded the " Rawalpindi Public Library ", first public library ever established in Pakistan, and, with the approval of then deputy commissioner, Major Davis (husband of Mrs. Davis of Mrs. Davis' Motel) who donated a large building (on Mission Road, now Trunk Bazar) to preserve and catalog the priceless literature from destruction. 478,774 manuscripts, books and artifacts in 27 languages were cataloged (by Abdul Qadeer et al, editor of Rah e Nau). Besides major language works, they included sanskrit, punjabi (devnagri & shahmukhi), pushto, farsee, kashmiri, uzbek, turkeman, baluchi, maya and others. Soon after his death in 1963 at Rawalpindi, library building was grabbed by influential politicians, with the manuscripts and artifacts openly looted and carried away as collector's items.
His legacy is survived by writers & novelists; Ahmed Javed Jilani, Ahmad Taufiq Jilani (Lahore) and Farzana Agha Jilani (Islamabad). And entrepreneur, inventor and industrial designer, Tauqir A. Jilani, (founder of VideoShack & Jilani Motoronics Co) builder and manufacturer of hybrid and tribrid, electric-solar-gas vehicles in California, New Mexico and Arizona.
Some of his Radio programs that were written and narrated by him.