Revolutionary poet Josh Malihabadi remembered

ISLAMABAD, Feb 22 (APP):Thursday marked death anniversary of revolutionary Urdu poet Josh Malih abadi who contributed with his poetry against the British Rule for the independence of the sub-continent. Due to his struggle for freedom he was called a Shaayar-e-Inquilab (Poet of the Revolution).
Josh Malihabadi was born on December 5, 1894 in Malihabad. His birth name was Shabbir Hasan Khan. He wrote Ghazals and Nazms under the takhallus Josh.
He studied at St. Peter’s College, Agra and passed his Senior Cambridge examination in 1914. Although Josh subsequently studied Arabic and Persian and, in 1918, spent six months at Tagore’s university, Shantiniketan, the death of his father, Bashir Ahmed Khan, in 1916, prevented him from undertaking a college education.
In 1925, Josh began to supervise translation work at Osmania University, in the princely state of Hyderabad. However, his stay there ended, when he found himself exiled from the state for writing a poem against the Nizam of Hyderabad, the then ruler of the state.
Soon thereafter, he founded the magazine, Kaleem in which he openly wrote articles in favour of independence from the British Raj in India. As his reputation spread, he came to be called Shaayar-e-Inquilaab (Poet of the Revolution).
Subsequently, he became more actively involved in the freedom struggle in an intellectual capacity and became close to some of the political leaders of that era.
After the end of British Raj in 1947, Josh became the editor of the publication Aaj-Kal Josh migrated to Pakistan in 1958. After migration, Josh settled in Karachi and rigorously worked for Anjuman-i-Tarraqi-i-Urdu with Maulvi Abdul Haq.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Syed Fakhruddin Balley both were the closest companions and friends of Josh and Sajjad Hyder Kharosh,the son of Josh.
He died on February 22,1982 at the age of 83.
In August 2012, the Government of Pakistan announced Hilal-i-Imtiaz for Josh Malihabadi.