Karachi: The 51st death anniversary of Baba-e-Urdu (Father of Urdu) Maulvi Abdul Haq is being observed here with much respect and reverence all across the country. However, the events regarding the valued personality are not being held due to the month of Ramazan.
Maulvi Abdul Haq was a learned scholar and prime linguist. He is considered as the master of Urdu language and demanded for it to be declared as the national language of Pakistan.
He was born on 16 November, 1872 in Hapur town in Ghaziabad District in India. He was the founder of Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu which was founded in 1903 in Aligarh.
In November 1947, Abdul Haq migrated to Pakistan. Some of his material which is brought with him while migrating is kept in Urdu Dictionary Board library. Maulvi Abdul Haq also pushed for the establishment of an Urdu College in Karachi,the implementation of Urdu as a medium of teachings and instructions for all subjects in educational institutions and worked to organise a national Urdu conference in 1959. His most prominent works include the English-Urdu dictionary, Maktoobat, Chand Ham Asar, Tauqeedat, Muqaddimat, Debacha Dastan Rani Ketki and Qawaid-e-Urdu.
After a prolonged period of incapacitation, on August 16, 1961 he died of cancer in Karachi. In acknowledgment of his services to Urdu literature, Pakistan Post issued a Commemorative stamp on 16 August 2004.