LAHORE: The death anniversary of customs officer and famous poetess Parveen Shakir was observed on Monday. Parveen Shakir became an acclaimed poet with her first published collection Khushbu in 1976.
She received the Pride of Performance award for her significant contribution to Urdu literature. She also served as a teacher and a civil servant. She died in a car accident in 1994 on this day.
Parveen started writing at a young age, penning both prose and poetry, and contributing columns in Urdu newspapers, and a few articles in English dailies. Initially, she wrote under the pen-name, “Beena”. Shakir held two master’s degrees, one in English literature and one in Linguistics. She also held several degrees and another master’s degree in Bank Administration.
She was a teacher for nine years before she joined the civil service and worked in customs department. In 1986 she was appointed the second secretary, Federal Board of Revenue in Islamabad.
Shakir married a Pakistani doctor, Syed Naseer Ali, with whom she had a son, Syed Murad Ali but the marriage did not last long and ended in a divorce.
On 26 December 1994, Shakir’s car collided with a bus while she was on her way to work in Islamabad. The accident resulted in her death, a great loss to the Urdu poetry world. The road on which the accident took place is named after her now Parveen Shakir Road.
