Shafi Aqeel

Shafi Aqeel (1930 – 6 September 2013) was a Pakistani journalist, writer, poet, art critic and translator.

He had edited and co-edited a number of magazines, and contributed columns on art and literature to the national Urdu language newspaper Daily Jang.

Education and early life Shafi Aqeel was born in 1930, close to Saddar Bazaar, Lahore. About his early life, he said, "Poverty is nothing to abhor or be ashamed of. Rather, it may work as a stimulus. I think if I hadn't been poor, I wouldn't have achieved what I have."

Awards and recognition Shafi Aqeel received a number of awards for his work during his lifetime: Lifetime Achievement Award by the Karachi Press Club in 2005

Personal life Shafi Aqeel lived a life of celibacy and never got married, about which he said; "The charm of words, though they sit in black on paper, was so absorbing that I did not find time to look elsewhere hard enough". He was buried in the cemetery in Paposhnagar, Karachi, Pakistan.

Poet and researcher Aqeel Abbas Jafari said of Shafi Aqeel, "[he] was an amiable man. He admired people with intellect. The fact that he remained associated with one organisation [Jang] for 63 years is a feat in itself. He was a selfless individual too, which is why after his brother-in-law died, he decided not to marry to support his sister."

Former editor of Daily Jang newspaper Mahmood Shaam and professor Sahar Ansari also paid their tributes to him after his death.