Special issue of quarterly Adbiyat on Josh is a part of Pakistan Academy of Letter’s project to publish critical and research papers on makers of Pakistani literature. PAL also intends to initiate the process to name a road in Islamabad after Josh Maleehabadi and nominate him for higher civil award.

These views were expressed by Fakhar Zaman, PAL chairman, in his presidential address to the launching ceremony of Farrukh Jamal Maleehabadi’s book titled ‘Josh - Mere Baba, Shakhs Aur Shair’, arranged jointly by PAL and Josh Adbi Foundation.

Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik and Iftikhar Arif were the chief guests while Dr Aalia Imam, Syd Mansoor Aaqil, Dr Ghazanfar Mehdi, Firdous Alam, Alhaj Muhammd Iqbal and Umar Riaz Abbasi expressed their views. Fakhar Zaman said that Josh was the first poet in Urdu to win title of Shair-e-Inqelab.

“He will remain on the top of the list of revolutionary poets in Urdu. He was a progressive and committed person, who never bowed before the tyranny of any dictator. During his life, he had to face opposition of establishment and others,” he said.

He said that not only in his poetry but also in prose he developed a different style. His revolutionary spirit and freedom of thought was for others to follow. He said the coming issue of Adbiyat would be dedicated to Josh.

He said Jamal had shared his feelings as to his relationship with his grandfather Josh in this book. He said Jamal’s book titled would introduce new aspects of Josh’s personality to readers.

Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik said in the beginning of his poetry career, Josh had a bent towards romanticism but after migrating to Pakistan he changed his views.

Iftikhar Arif said Josh was a revolutionary, romantic and a poet of humanity. “He is among those writers who did grand service to promote Urdu language and literature,” he said. He said, “We can oppose his point of view but cannot deny the fact that he is a great poet.

His grip on language and different shades of words and his command over the art of poetry makes him prominent among his contemporaries.” He also mentioned a Dr Hilal Naqvi’s book on Josh as a remarkable achievement of PAL’s project ‘Makers of Pakistani Literature’.

Dr Alia Imam said Josh was a rationalist poet with a mature consciousness. Syed Mansoor Aaqil said Josh was a poet of humanity. Parto Rohela said in the history of Urdu literary, Josh was among those few poets who had perfect command over language and forms of expression. Kaneez Fatima said Josh was a unique voice of his times.