LAHORE: The Customs group, Customs Department and literary circles are proud of the valuable contribution of Parveen Shakir in Urdu literature and paid glowing tributes to her on her 20th death anniversary on Friday.
Parveen Shakir was born on November 24, 1952 in Karachi. She was highly educated with two masters degrees- one in English literature and another in linguistics. She also held a PhD and another masters’ degree in Bank Administration.
She was a teacher for nine years before she joined the Civil Service and worked in the Customs department. In 1986 she was appointed the second secretary, CBR in Islamabad.
Chairperson of the Parveen Shakir Trust, Parveen Qadir Agha said that the trust was established after the death of Parveen Shakir by her close friends with the objectives to promote, preserve and protect her work and look after her son.
The trust arranges Quran Khwani and a function every year to mark her death anniversary. About her poetry, she said her poetry was not confined to a single issue but she touched variety of issues. Her poetry carried universal thoughts and ideas and was for the people of all ages.
The first book of Parveen Shakir was ‘Khushboo’ which won the Adamjee award. Later she was awarded the Pride of Performance award, which is the highest award given by the Pakistan government.
On December 26, 1994, on her way to work, her car collided with a truck and the world of modern Urdu poetry lost one of its brightest stars.
