Hasan Abidi (July 7, 1929 – September 6, 2005) was a Pakistani journalist, author, political activist, and Urdu poet.
Early Life and Education
Born on July 7, 1929, in Zafarabad, Jaunpur district, Uttar Pradesh, he had his early education at Azamgarh and Allahabad (British India). Following India’s partition in 1947, he migrated to Pakistan, lived in Karachi in 1948, and became involved in writing and journalism.
Career
Hasan Abidi was President of the Karachi Press Club and a member of the Karachi Union of Journalists as well as the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. Additionally, Hasan Abidi was a committed trade unionist. He participated actively in the Irtiqa forum as well.
In 1955, Abidi began his journalistic career as an employee of the daily newspaper Afaq, which was published in Urdu. In 1957, he became a member of Lail-o-Nahar magazine, which was edited by Sibte Hassan and Faiz Ahmad Faiz.
Abidi later relocated to Karachi to work for the magazine Akhbar-e-Khwateen. He quickly rose to the position of editor before he went to work for the Dawn newspaper.
Writings
Navisht-i-Nai (1995), Jareeda (1998), and Farar Hona Haroof ka (2004) are his poetry books. He had also translated fellow journalist Eqbal Ahmed’s essays into Urdu and penned children’s stories and poems. Hasan Abidi also wrote nazams and ghazals. Within the conventional ghazal framework, he was more in control of his crafts; nevertheless, for his nazams, he chose a different style and subject matter. The majority of his nazams tell stories about the social and political facets of society. Farar Hona Huroof Ka, his collection of poems, was published by Scheherzade, Karachi, in 2004.
Death
Hasan Abidi died of a heart attack in Karachi on September 6, 2005, at the age of 76.
A few weeks after Hasan Abidi’s passing, on September 18, 2005, the Progressive Writers Association and the Karachi Press Club organised an event in Karachi to pay tribute to Hasan Abidi.