Ghulam Rabbani Agro

Sindhi writer and intellectual One of the pioneers of the Sindhi short stories, Ghulam Rabbani authored many books including Jahra Gul Gulab Ja, Sindh Ja Bar Bahr Pahar and Aab-i-Hayat for which he is well-known. Started writing short stories from early 1950s, Agro's stories were translated and published in different languages including English, German, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. He led a delegation of Pakistani writers to China, as chairman of the Pakistan Academy of letters, and also to Bangladesh. Agro visited India and Iran as head of the Pakistani writers' delegation. Agro spent nearly forty years of his life with the Sindhi Adabi Board, which was established for the promotion of history, culture, languages and literature of Sindh. He got the Persian translation of the Qur'an of the Makhdoom Nooh of Hala reprinted. This is considered to be the first Persian translation of the Qur'an in the Indian subcontinent - nearly 200 years older than the Persian translation by Shah Waliullah (1703-1761) of Delhi. During his career Agro was appointed a member of the Federal Public Service Commission, chairman of the Sindhi Adabi Board, director of the Institute of Historical and Research Commission, director of the Urdu Science Board, Lahore, and first pro-vice chancellor of Sindh University. In recognition of his services to literature Agro was awarded Tamgah-I-Imtiaz by the government of Pakistan. Ghulam Rabbani Agro died of cardiac arrest.

Compiler: M. Nauman Khan