By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: The 107th birth anniversary of renowned Urdu writer and civil servant Qudrat Ullah Shahab was being observed on Monday.
He was born in Gilgit on February 26, 1917 and was known for his autobiography, Shahab Nama. At the young age of 16, he won an international essay competition organized by the Readers Digest, London.
He graduated from Prince of Wales College, Jammu, and later from Government College Lahore. He was selected for Indian Civil Service in 1940 and later volunteered to serve in Bengal during the famine of 1943.
After moving to Pakistan, he worked as a Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce until becoming Chief Secretary of the newly formed state of Azad Kashmir in Muzaffarabad. He then became Deputy Commissioner of Jhang, Punjab.
He served as Punjab’s Director of Industries, where he dealt primarily with settlement concerns involving migration. He was named Principal Secretary to then-Governor General Ghulam Muhammad and served in this capacity under Iskander Ali Mirza and Ayub Khan’s governments.
In 1962, he was appointed Pakistan’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, and later Secretary of Information and Education. Shahab was elected to the UNESCO Executive Board in 1968.
He died on 24 July 1987 in Islamabad and is buried in H-8 Graveyard, Islamabad, Pakistan.
