Altaf Gauhar was one of the famous writers of Pakistan who functioned as a civil servant. He worked as the editor in Pakistan’s daily Newspaper and also wrote various Books. His autobiography on Ayub khan’s life was outstanding, which shows an utterly different picture of Ayub khan’s life.
He was an eminent Pakistani who launched several journals in London. After BBCI’s downfall, he came back to Pakistan. He wrote a large number of books and did a translation of the Quran. This article has all the information about him, including Altaf Gauhar Biography.
Title | Description |
---|---|
Personal | |
Name: | Altaf Gauhar |
In Urdu: | الطاف گوہر |
Famous As: | Journalist, Poet, and Writer |
Nationality: | Pakistani |
Education: | Government College, Lahore |
Religion: | Islam |
Profession: | Civil Servant, Journalist, Poet, and Writer |
All India Radio: | Before partition, he was a Broadcaster |
Civil Servants: | One of Pakistan’s first Civil Servants |
Appointed As: | First Secretary of the State Bank |
Served as: | Information Secretary |
Government of: | Former President Ayub Khan |
1948: | Entered the Civil Service of Pakistan |
1969: | Left the Civil Service |
Born | |
Date: | 17th March 1923 |
Place: | Gujranwala |
Died | |
Date: | 14th November 2000 |
Table of Contents
Altaf Gauhar Biography
Altaf was a famous poet, writer, and journalist. Before the partition of the subcontinent, he worked as the broadcaster in All India Radio. In 1948 he became the first civil servant of Pakistan. He started his career by joining the State Bank of Pakistan as a Secretary.
After that, at the age of 39, he was promoted as Information Secretary Govt of Pakistan. He was blessed with an exceptional Versatility and Intelligence that reflected through his work. In 2000 he breath his last after fighting with deadly disease, Cancer.
Altaf Date of Birth
He was born on 17 March 1923 in Gujranwala.
Education of Altaf
He received his education from Government College, Lahore.
Altaf Gauhar Family
His wife’s name was Begum Zarina Gauhar who was an educated lady. She did her masters from Aligarh University.. The couple was blessed with one son and two daughters.
Career
Secretary of State Bank of Pakistan
He started his career by joining the State Bank of Pakistan as a Secretary. After some time, he was promoted as Information Secretary Govt of Pakistan. During this period, harsh laws ruling the press were passed, for which he apologized to the public. Gauhar started the National media to create awareness about the ruling government of the day.
Civil service
In 1948, he became the first civil servant of Pakistan. In 1969 he was shifted to Director finance service academy in Lahore, which was the lower position than Central Secretary. After some time, he was dismissed from civil service.
Dawn Newspaper
After being dismissed from civil service, he worked as the editor in well known Pakistan daily dawn newspaper. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a chief martial administrator, he was sent to jail twice the time. During his time in prison, he gained a lot of interest in the Holy Quran and translated the Quran.
Came to London
When he was bailed out of prison, he left Dawn newspaper and went to London, where he launched journals like Third World Quarterly, Third world review and South magazine, and Third World Foundation. After BCCI’s downfall, he came back to Pakistan and started working as a journalist.
He worked as chief-in-editor and gave his 100% to this role. After some time, he only used to write for the occasional column in Newspaper. He resigned from the newspaper job when the newspaper owner fired the editor ABS jaffery.
Altaf Gauhar Books
He wrote several books in both languages Urdu and English. Some of the names of the books are
- Thoughts and after thoughts
- Shared horizon
- Taḥriiren̲ cand
- Altaf Gauhar
- The Altaf Gauhar papers
- Nai Bengali afsanai
- Arab petrodollars
- Ayub Khan, Pakistan’s first military ruler
- Translations from the Quran
- The Rich and the Poor: Development, Negotiations, and Cooperation
- Likhte rahe jinon̲ Kii ḥikaayat
- Regional Integration.
Autobiography
In 1967 he wrote a biography known as “Friends not Master” on Ayub khan’s life, which showed completely different stories and was written after his death. Before leaving the president’s seat, Ayub invited Altaf gauhar and wanted to honor him with a high civil award of Hilal-Quaid-e-Azam. Gauhar wanted Ayub khan not to let go of his president’s seat; that’s why he tried to convince him as much as he could. But unfortunately, his effort did not work.
Altaf Gauhar Death
Before his death, he was in great pain and was given the treatment of chemotherapy for cancer. At the age of 77, he passed away on 14 November 2000 due to cancer.