The 25th death anniversary of renowned poetess Ms Parveen Shakir (late) was observed at Custom House, Islamabad on Thursday.
Ms Parveen Qadir Agha (Ex-Member Income Tax, FBR) who chairs the Parveen Shakir Trust was the chief guest on the occasion. The session was attended by retired and serving Customs Officers, besides Dr Qasim Bughio, ex-chairman, Academy of Letters of Pakistan, Dr Arslan Subuctageen, Director General (IPR), Ms Seema Raza Bokhari, Collector, MCC Islamabad, Irfan Chaudhary, Director PCA and Ms Ayesha Bashir Wani, Additional Collector (HQ), MCC Islamabad. Prominent amongst retired customs officers were Najeeb-ur-Rehman Abbasi, Muhammad Siddique besides Salman Nabi, then Member Income Tax and Nazim Saleem, Ex-Member FBR and other scholarly figures.
Chief Collector of Customs (North) Dr Asif Mahmood Jah (Sitara-e-Imtiaz) highlighted her literary as well as departmental contributions besides expressing the desire to hold regular sessions to remember her.
Chief Collector Customs (North) along with serving and retired customs officers laid floral wreath on the grave of the late poetess in H-8 Graveyard, Islamabad. A contingent of customs sepoys presented salute. In the Custom House, Islamabad Quran Khawani was held and dua was offered for the departed soul.
Born on 24th November, 1952 at Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, Ms Parveen Shakir started writing at a very young age, penning both prose and poetry and contributing columns in Urdu newspapers and a few articles in English dailies. She held Masters Degree in English literature from Karachi University and M Phil from the Harvard University, USA. Initially, she wrote under the pen name "Beena". She was a teacher for nine years before she joined the Civil Services of Pakistan in 10th Common and worked in the Customs Department. In 1986, she was appointed the Second Secretary, Federal Board of Revenue, Islamabad. She also held important positions in Karachi and Islamabad. Ms Parveen Shakir published her first volume of poetry "Khushbu" to great acclaim in 1976. She subsequently published six volumes of poetry namely Khushbu, Sad Burg, Khud Kalami, Inkar, Kaf-e-Aina and Mah-e-Tamam along with a collection of newspaper columns, titled Gosha-e-Chashm and was awarded one of Pakistan's highest honours "Pride of Performance" for her outstanding contribution to literature in 1976 when she was only 24 years of age. She met a car accident on 26th December, 1994 while on her way to work near Faisal Avenue in Islamabad.
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