Qudratullah Shahab
| Qudratullah Shahab قدرت الله شهاب |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
26 February 1917 Gilgit, British India |
| Died | 24 July 1986 (aged 69) Islamabad, Pakistan |
| Resting place | H-8 Graveyard, Islamabad |
| Occupation | civil servant, diplomat |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Education | Indian Civil Service |
| Notable works | Shahab Nama |
| Spouse | Iffat Shahab (died in Canterbury on 17 June 1974, aged: 42) |
| Children | Saqib Shahab |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Qudrat Ullah Shahab (or Qudratullah Shahab; 26 February 1920 – 24 July 1986) (Urdu: قدرت الله شهاب) was an eminent Urdu writer and civil servant from Pakistan. He is best known for his autobiography, Shahab Nama.
Shahab was born in Gilgit in 1920. His father Abdullah Shahab belonged to the Arain tribe of Chimkor Sahib village, district Ambala and was a student at Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College and a protegé under the supervision of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Abdullah Shahab later immigrated from Aligarh and settled down in Gilgit. Shahab started writing in his early days both in Urdu and English languages. At the age of 16, he won an international essay competition organised by the Readers Digest, London. He graduated from Prince of Wales College, Jammu, and later from Government College Lahore.
According to his autobiography, he spent his childhood in Eastern Punjab near Chamkor Sahib, Ropar (Rupnagar) District.
He was selected for Indian Civil Service in 1940 and later volunteered to serve in Bengal during the famine of 1943, where he served as magistrate at Nandigram. He came under heavy fire from the authorities when he distributed part of the strategic rice reserves to the starving local community.
After coming to Pakistan he was first posted in the Ministry of Commerce as a Deputy Secretary and then as Chief Secretary of the new state of Azad Kashmir at Muzaffarabad. Thereafter, he became Deputy Commissioner of Jhang, Punjab. He also served as Director of Industries of Punjab and dealt mostly with settlement issues concerning migration. He was appointed by Governor General Ghulam Muhammad his Principal Secretary and remained on this post during Iskander Mirza's and Ayub Khan's regimes. He served as Ambassador of Pakistan to Holland in 1962 and later as Secretary of Information and Education. He resigned after a clash with the new regime of Yahya Khan and opted for a self-imposed exile at UK. Shahab was elected a member of the executive board of UNESCO in 1968.
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