Civil award recipient Abaseen Yousafzai has a large fan following

PESHAWAR: The noted Pashto poet and research scholar Prof Dr Abaseen Yousafzai is one of the 10 excelling persons from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who received the coveted President’s Pride of Performance award in recognition of his contribution to the Pashto language and literature.

Born at Khanpur village in Lower Dir district in 1964, Muslim Shah commonly known as Abaseen Yousafzai, did his LLB from the University of Peshawar in 1986 and masters in Pashto literature in 1988 with distinction.

He has done his doctorate thesis on ‘Pakhtun Hamza’, an analytical study on nationality of Hamza Shinwari from the Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar in 2016.

Abaseen Yousafzai has several poetry, prose and research books to his credit. He enjoys a large fan following in KP, Balochistan, Afghanistan, and Pakhtun diaspora living across the globe. He is a popular voice on radio, famous face on TV and widely-read in print.

His popular poetry collections include Ghurzangoonga, (1994), Alwat (2005) and Maraam (2016). Ghurzangoona ran to 10 and Alwat five editions.

Abaseen Yousafzai has read research papers in the Gulf countries, Afghanistan and Iran. He frequently appears on TV and Radio literary shows and enjoys a reputation for his clear vision.

He not only actively participates in literary and cultural activities but also supervises and heads several literary and cultural organisations.

Serving the Pashto language and literature for the last 40 years, Abaseen Yousafzai has contributed numerous features and columns to Pashto and Urdu newspapers and magazines besides grooming budding poets and writers.

He joined the historic Islamia College Peshawar, now a university, as lecturer and is currently heading its Pashto Department as chairman. He is also in-charge of the Khyber Union besides chief organizer of the students’ societies.

He has hosted programmes like Wagmay, Tarang, Yadgerana, Ghazalzar, and Shair-e-Insaniat.

Abaseen Yousafzai not only hosted programmes, but also wrote scripts for PTV Home, PTV-2, PTV National, PTV News, FM 101 Radio Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Radio Pakistan and many private channels and literary magazines.

He had done literary, cultural and research projects for the KP Culture Department. The Teaching Staff Association (ICP) has honoured him with the best teacher award. He also received the prestigious Presidential Award from Afghanistan as well.

He is currently leading Pohantoon Adabi Stori (PAS), a literary body comprising young college and university students.