Veteran literary scholar and poet Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi's 5th death anniversary was observed across the country and world-wide on Sunday. Born as Ahmad Shah Awan on November 20, 1916 in the village Anga of Khushab District in British-administrated India, and a graduate from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi started his career as a government clerk, which he eventually left to pursue journalism, a private TV channel reported.
He became active member of the Progressive Writers Movement (PWM), for a time holding the position of Secretary, and was consequently arrested many times during the 1950s through the 1970s. In 1948, he was selected as Secretary General of the Anjuman-e-Taraqqi Pasand Musannifeen. In 1949, he was elected Secretary General of the organisation for Pakistan.
In 1962, Qasmi started his own journal, 'Fanoon'. In 1974, he was appointed Secretary General of Majlis-Taraqee-Adab, a Board of Advancement of Literature established by the government of West Pakistan in 1958. Qasimi received Pride of Performance (1968) and Pakistan Academy of Letters' lifetime achievement award, as well as the country's highest civil honour, Sitara-i-Imtiaz (1980) for literature.