Zia Jalandhari

Zia Jalandhari belonged to the generation shaped by Partition, yet rooted in classical taste. Born in 1923, he later moved to Lahore, where the city’s rich literary life helped him mature as a poet. He became associated with Halqa e Arbab e Zauq, a circle that valued craft, innovation, and thoughtful experimentation. Zia’s poetry reflects that approach, it carries grace, clarity, and a measured modern tone.

Alongside literature, he served in the civil service. Even with administrative responsibilities, he continued to write quietly and consistently, publishing ghazals and nazms in respected journals. His diction stayed close to tradition, yet his sensibility was contemporary, which gave his poems a calm depth. Themes of time, memory, and the inner life recur in his work, handled with restraint rather than flourish.

Readers and peers admired his balance, the way he kept classical elegance while speaking to the present. In gatherings he was known for a dignified presence, and on the page for a voice that preferred polish over noise. He spent his later years between literary circles and public service, a life that mirrored his poetry’s poise.

Zia Jalandhari passed away in Islamabad in 2012. He is remembered as a disciplined craftsman of the ghazal and a steady influence within the Halqa tradition, a poet whose quiet strength continues to be valued by serious readers.