Iftikhar Arif


Iftikhar Hussain Arif, is an Urdu poet, scholar and littérateur from Pakistan. His style is romantic Urdu poetry. He has headed the Pakistan Academy of Letters and the National Language Authority. He has received the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Presidential Pride of Performance awards, which are the highest literary awards given by the Government of Pakistan.

Career

He studied Urdu, English and Sanskrit. Iftikhar Arif did his M.A. in 1965 - at the Lucknow university, then studied journalism at New York University, before migrating to Karachi, Pakistan and working for Radio Pakistan as a newscaster and then went on to work for Pakistan Television Corporation where he teamed up with Obaidullah Baig for the PTV program Kasauti.
After doing Kasauti, he spent next 13 years of his life in England until 1990 working for Urdu Markaz there.

Achievements

Awards