Noted writer, poet Qamar Shahbaz passes away

One of the all-time great Sindhi short story writer, Qamar Shahbaz died on Tuesday at his Karachi residence. He was 75. Shahbaz was a poet, short story writer, columnist, drama writer, actor and director. Qamaruddin Bughio alias Qamar Shahbaz was born on April 13, 1938 to a middle class family of Mohammed Maqbool Bughio. He completed his Masters in English Literature in 1962. He motivated Amar Jaleel and other writers to contribute to his literary magazine ‘Ada’ (brother) while he was studying in Government High School, Nawab Shah. “It was Qamar Shahbaz, who took me to attend literary gatherings in Nawab Shah. That was the reason I entered into new world of literature and passed through the process of transformation. During my presence in literary gatherings I realised as if I have been associated with the creative literature through generations,” Jaleel wrote in his autobiography. Shahbaz passed commission examination to become a bureaucrat, and joined corporate sector organisations, including Ghee Corporation of Pakistan as its director and Export Processing Zone Authority and worked for long time at different offices. After retirement he preferred to stay out of the literary world. The prolific writer started his career as a teacher first in high school and then in different colleges, including SM Science College, Karachi. English Literature was his subject, and there are about five books on poetry, short stories, columns and drama to his credit.