Tahir Hanfi

Muhammad Masood Tahir Hanfi is a Pakistani poet, journalist, and former civil servant based in Islamabad, Pakistan. He is a former deputy secretary general of the Parliament of Pakistan and additional secretary of the committee responsible for technical and administrative support to the National Assembly of Pakistan. Currently, he is a consultant for parliamentary development and an international advisor on capacity-building initiatives. He is the founder and honorary CEO of Digital Democracy Radar, an Islamabad-based watchdog on parliamentary functioning, democracy, and constitutional affairs.

Life and professional career Tahir Hanfi was born on 26 November 1955 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He received his master's degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from the National Defence University, Islamabad (2007) and his M.A. in political science from the University of the Punjab, Lahore (1981). He successfully completed the 44-week National Defence Course (NDC) from National Defence University Islamabad (2007) and a 12-week Executive Course in Security Studies in 2004 from Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies (APCSS), Honolulu, Hawaii, US. He was also awarded a prestigiousChevening fellowship in 2008, funded by the UK FCO, in "Democracy, Rule of Law and Security" at the Centre for Studies in Security and Diplomacy (CSSD) University of Birmingham, UK.

In the service of the National Assembly of Pakistan since 1983, Mr Hanfi has served as Additional Secretary in charge of three wings of the National Assembly, namely Public Accounts Committee (2013 – 2014), Library and Research (2013 – 2015) and Committees (2015). He was also Director General of the Library & Research (2004 – 2013), Joint Secretary of the Public Accounts Committee (2009 – 2010), Director and deputy director of Inter-Parliamentary Affairs Division (1990 – 2004) and Research Officer in Research and Reference Directorate (1983 – 1989). He was Secretary to a Special Parliamentary Committee on the services of Members of Parliament (MP's) and of the Standing Committee on the Environment (2004 – 2006) and Head of the Protocol Department of National Legislature (1994 – 2000).

From 1974 to 1983, he worked as a journalist television and radio programmes dealing with constitutional and parliamentary affairs. thumb First Urdu Ghazal of Tahir Hanfi published in Daily Tameer Rawalpindi, on 13 May 1972As a focal person, Mr Hanfi oversaw the implementation of foreign assistance programmes in the National Assembly of Pakistan, including the United Nations Development Program and Inter-Parliamentary Union's (2004–09) Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development Project (PLSP) (2004 – 08), and the USAID-funded Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Programme (PLSP) (2004–08), which focused on building the capacity of the legislature.

Contributions as poet Hanfi has published five collections of poetry, latest one in January 2022. The first edition of his first collection of poetry, Shehr-e-Narasa was published in April 2014, while the second edition was published two months later in June 2014. Celebrations for the publication of Shehr-e-Narasa were held in 22 cities across Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States. was published in September 2019, which was well received in literary circles in Pakistan and five US states – Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and the capital Washington DC.

The third and fourth collections of his poetry, Khana Badoosh Ankhain and Yarghamal-e-Khak have recently been published and have been highly praised by the distinguished poetic community.

Mr Hanfi's fifth poetry collection, RashkeAflaak , coincides with Pakistan's 75th birth anniversary. The fifth collection, published in January 2022, includes 75 couplets and 75 ghazals. Asadullah Ghalib, a well-known columnist, wrote an article analyzing key stanzas from RashkeAflaak.

Mr Hanfi's sixth poetry collection, Awaaz-e-Gumshuda , is published in January 2023.

Poetry collections Awaaz-e-Gumshuda – 2023 Rashk-e-Aflaaq – 2022 Yarghamal-e-Khak – 2021 Khana Badoosh Ankhain – 2020 Goongi Hijrat – 2019 Shehr-e-Narasa – 2014

Other contributions Hanfi has contributed to two international publications.

The Crime of Aggression in International Criminal Law: Historical Development, Comparative Analysis and Present State The Compatibility of the Rome Statute's Draft Definition of the Crime of Aggression with National Criminal Justice Systems

International travel Hanfi has travelled extensively to the continents of Africa, America, Asia, Australia and Europe to participate in parliamentary conferences, seminars, professional development programmes and academic initiatives related to constitutional affairs and parliamentary services. He also participated in foreign visits as an advisor to Pakistani parliamentary delegates.

YouTube channel Hanfi regularly shares his poetry and life experiences on his YouTube channel Tahir Hanfi Official.