{{Short description|Urdu language poet}} {{EngvarB|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox writer | name = Mustafa Zaidi | image =File:Mustafa_zaidi.jpg | imagesize = | caption =Mustafa Zaidi as Deputy Commissioner Lahore | pseudonym = Tegh Allahbadi | birth_name = Syed Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1930|10|10}} | birth_place = Allahabad, United Provinces, British India | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1970|10|12|1930|10|10}} | death_place = Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan | occupation = Poet | nationality = Pakistani | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = Nazms and Ghazals | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = Vera Zaidi | partner = | children = | relatives = | awards = Tamgha-e-Quaid-e-Azam | signature = }}
'''Mustafa Zaidi''' (born '''Syed Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi'''; 10 October 1930 – 12 October 1970) was a Pakistani Urdu poet and a civil servant.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-10-12|title=مصطفیٰ زیدی: قتل یا خودکشی، سوال نصف صدی بعد بھی باقی|url=https://www.independenturdu.com/node/49856|access-date=2021-08-30|website=Independent Urdu|language=ur}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Salman|first=Peerzada|date=2020-10-12|title=This week 50 years ago: The Mustafa Zaidi case and NATAK|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1584563|access-date=2021-08-30|website=DAWN.COM|language=en}}</ref>
==Early life== In 1954, he passed the competitive examination and was sent to England for training before being given the posts of deputy commissioner and deputy secretary.<ref name="Dawn 2008">{{cite web|title=Mustafa Zaidi: murder or suicide?|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/971951/mustafa-zaidi-murder-or-suicide|website=DAWN|access-date=13 October 2015|date=14 October 2008}}</ref>
He married Vera Zaidi, a German national, with whom he had a son and a daughter.<ref name="Ali 2014">{{cite web | last=Ali | first=Kamran Asdar | title=COLUMN: A moment in Karachi's history: a poet's death remembered | website=DAWN.COM | date=2014-12-01 |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1148084 | access-date=2018-02-14}}</ref>
In June 1970, he was dismissed from civil service along with 38 other Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) officers by the dictatorial regime of General Yahya Khan. <ref>{{Cite news|date=1970-06-07|title=PAKISTAN OUSTS 191 AFTER TRIALS|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/07/archives/pakistan-ousts-191-after-trials-69-others-are-retired-on-corruption.html|access-date=2021-08-31|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Death== He died on 12 October 1970, two days after his 40th birthday, in Karachi under mysterious circumstances and was laid to rest at ''Wadi-e-Hussain'' cemetery Karachi. At the time of his death, Shahnaz Gul, a contractor's wife, was found beside him unconscious. Some believed that Zaidi was murdered while others thought he committed suicide.<ref name="Ahmar1999">{{cite book|author=Yunus Ahmar|title=Modern Urdu Poets|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XPtCu5zdg-0C&pg=PA101|accessdate=15 February 2018|year=1999|publisher=Adam Publishers and Distributors|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-7435-162-3|page=101}}</ref><ref name="Parekh 2015">{{cite web | last=Parekh | first=Rauf | title=Creativity and mental disorder: Urdu poets and writers who committed suicide | website=DAWN.COM | date=2015-04-27 | url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1178438 | access-date=2018-02-14}}</ref>
In 2024, Saba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood-Khan wrote ''Society Girl'', which explores Zaidi's mysterious death and his affair with Shahnaz Gul.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hasan |first1=Shazia |title=Decades-old murder mystery retold |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1874587 |work=DAWN.COM |date=25 November 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Masood-Khan |first1=Saba Imtiaz & Tooba |title=A new book investigates poet Mustafa Zaidi's death, still a subject of controversy in Pakistan |url=https://scroll.in/article/1075239/a-new-book-investigates-poet-mustafa-zaidis-death-still-a-subject-of-controversy-in-pakistan |website=Scroll.in |language=en |date=8 November 2024}}</ref>
== Literary works == He also wrote under his pen-name Tegh Allahabadi. His initial poetry was romantic in nature. At the age of 17, he published his first collection of poetry ''Zangeerein'' (1949), followed by ''Roshni'' (1950), ''Shehr-e-Azar'' (City of Idol Worshippers; 1958), ''Mauj Meri Sadaf Sadaf'' (1960), ''Garebaan'' (1964), ''Qaba-e-Saaz'' (1967) and ''Koh-e-Nida'' (1971, published posthumously). His complete work was published as ''Kulliyaat-i-Mustafa Zaidi'' posthumously.<ref name="Dawn 2008" />
==Further reading== * {{cite book|author=Laurel Steele|title=Relocating the Postcolonial Self: Place, Metaphor, Memory and the Urdu Poetry of Mustafa Zaidi (1930-1970)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uo6gSQAACAAJ|year=2005|publisher=University of Chicago, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations|type=PhD|location=Chicago|oclc=60817790}} * {{cite book|author=Zafarullah Khan |title=Mustafa Zaidi: Shakhsiyat aur Shairi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MrljAAAAMAAJ|language=ur|year=1984|publisher=Majlis-i Fikr o Adab|oclc=15697137}}
==See also== * List of unsolved deaths * List of Urdu Poets
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{YouTube|8_Oz4zwK11A|Abida Parveen sings Mustafa Zaidi}} – Andhi Chali * {{YouTube|l0mOTM97qpY|Abida Parveen sings Mustafa Zaidi}} – Dard e dil bhi * {{YouTube|qERdRrQ5xw4|Asad Amanat Ali sings Mustafa Zaidi}} – Kisi Aur Gham mein * {{Gbooks-author|Mustafa Zaidi}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaidi, Mustafa}} Category:1930 births Category:1970 deaths Category:20th-century Pakistani male writers Category:20th-century Pakistani poets Category:Government College University, Lahore alumni Category:Muhajir people Category:Pakistani civil servants Category:Pakistani male poets Category:Pakistani Shia Muslims Category:Recipients of Tamgha-e-Quaid-e-Azam Category:Academic staff of the University of Peshawar Category:Unsolved deaths in Pakistan Category:Urdu-language Pakistani poets Category:Writers from Prayagraj Category:Twelvers Category:Poets from Karachi
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