Senior Pashto poet passes away

PESHAWAR: A senior Pashto Sufi poet, Johar Adnan, breathed his last at his home in Akhund Ahmad Landi after a brief illness here on Sunday, family sources confirmed.

He was 65. The poet was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard the same day. Local poets, and writers and fans attended his funeral payer.He left behind a widow, four sons and four daughters to mourn his death. Pashto literary circles expressed grief over his death and termed it a great loss to Pashto Sufi traditions and literature.

Born in 1960 in Akhund Ahmad Landi, Johrarullah aka Johar Adnan, he could receive education only till 6th grade but kept on pursuing his expensive study and mastered Pashto, Persian and Arabic languages.

Owing to domestic issues he went to jail in his early teens, where he started composing poems. Johar Adnan drew inspiration from classic Pashto poets, including Rahman Baba, Khushal Khan Khattak and Hamza Baba, alongside Persian Sufi traditions.

Though a major portion of his poetry is believed to have been lost, his fans retrieved some of his inspirational poetic pieces and brought it out, titled ‘ Ramz’ ( The Secrets) way back in 2022.

Young researcher Abbas Khalil also conducted research in Pashto and published it titled ‘ johar Adnan: Fun auo Shakhsiat) ( Art and Works of Johar Adnan ) and it received appreciation from literary circles in both Afghanistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Prof Hanif Khalil, in his research treatise published some time back, termed him a Sufi poet, saying his poetry was laden with inspiration from classic and modern Pashto trends, including romanticism, Pashtun nationalism and spiritualism.