Gul Pacha Ulfat

Gul Pacha Ulfat Poems

Gul Pacha Ulfat Biography

Gul Pacha Ulfat was born in 1909 in Qarghayi District of Laghman Province, Afghanistan. Ulfat was the prominent poet and author of the Pashto language. Gul Pacha Ulfat, son of Meer Sayed Pacha, was born in 1909 in the village of Aziz Khan Kats, Qarghayi District of Laghman Province. After acquiring a good knowledge of Arabic and religion, he studied Sarf, Nahw, Mantiq, Hadith and Tafseer from the local Islamic scholars. After completing his religious education and private studies in 1935, he was appointed as a clerk in national Anis Newspaper. In 1949 and 1952, he was elected as member of the National Assembly by the people of Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar Province, and people of Qarghayi District of Laghman respectively. Meanwhile he founded the Wolas, a national weekly in 1951. He remained as the chief editor of Wolas Weekly until the end of 1953. Ulfat attended the Grand Assembly sessions in 1955, representing the people of Jalalabad. In 1956, he was appointed as the president of the Pashto Academy, locally known as the "Pashto Tolana" and in 1963 he was promoted to a central cabinet post as the President of the Tribal Affairs. At the same time he served as a professor of Pashto language and literature in Kabul University, Faculty of Literature and Faculty of Law and Political Sciences. In 1964, he resigned from his ministerial post and was once again elected to the National Assembly by the people of Jalalabad. At the end of his term, he went into retirement. Ulfat along with Ghulam Hassan Safi, Abdul Hadi Tokhay, Mohammad Rasul Pashtun, Fayz Mohammad Angar, Qiamuddin Khadem, Ghulam Mohayuddin Zurmulwal, Abur Raof Benawa, Nur Mohammad Taraki, and others were the founding member of Afghan political movement Weesh Zalmyan (Awakened Youth) in 1947. After his retirement, Ulfat continued his contribution to the enrichment of Pashto Literature, as a poet and writer until the last moment of his life. He was the author of several books about religious, ethical, political and social matters, in verse and prose forms in addition to numerous articles. Some of his books are still unpublished. Ulfat had been awarded some medals namely Khushhal Khan, Abu Ali Sina, Education and the Star medals. Gul Pacha Ulfat spent the last days of his life in his village in Laghman Province. He died on the 19th of December, 1977 at the age of 67 due to heart failure. He was buried in his family graveyard in the same village.)

The Best Poem Of Gul Pacha Ulfat

The River

A large river flows alongside the vast deserts and dry steppes; but it provides no water to that arid wasteland. In this harsh drought, when people crack each others' skulls over water, it rushes past like a ruthless stingy miser, caring nothing for our thirst.

When its water rises and its waves churn, it carries away houses and cultivated fields along with itself. The same river flows differently once beyond our lands, treating other people differently. It does not inflict this sort of destruction over there. It isn't stingy over there, nor does it contain this sort of mercilessness. Over there, people pan for gold in the sand of its banks.

Over there fishermen catch bushels of fish from its water, and hunters hunt ducks in the huge marshy ponds that it forms. Numerous canals have been tapped from its waters. Huge fields are now watered. Villages and towns flourish.

There, barren lands have blossomed to fertility, and there is no shortage of grains and fruits. There, big dams have been set up in the course of the river; hydroelectric turbines have been installed; factories have started humming with work; and people are prosperous and full-bellied.

How can the river have such different faces here and there?

It rages at us, but is compassionate on them. Here it hurtles by in rapids; there it flows gently and slowly.

Here it zigs and zags; and there it follows the path assigned to it and does not divert from it. In reality, here it inflicts great destruction while there it submits to law and order, and is not allowed to destroy anything.

Our blame is laid on the river: "It has taken away so much from us; has killed so many among us. This is bloodthirsty river, with an ancient vendetta against us. It has destroyed our homes more than once, and swept away our cultivated fields again and again."

All our blame is laid on the river: "It is powerful and can inflict oppression and cruelty on us at any time."

Ah, what a shame. How unwise we are, to think this way as we do. We do not understand our own faults, and so we heap our blame down on the river bank. But we ourselves have settled down there on its banks. Really, the fault is ours, not the river's!

The river does not consider anyone in particular to be an enemy. The river will give water to anyone who is thirsty, and will clean anyone's dirty laundry. What the river needs is solid, mature work, and concrete dams reigning it in. If our actions were firm and our dams were concrete, our irrigation streams would not dry up and our fields would not be swept away.

We did not know how to reign in the river, and so we could not use it to our advantage. This river is the river of life. It contains within itself the powers both of destruction and prosperity alike. The river looks at the talent and ability of all sides, and then apportions them their due share. It does not give an equal share to two people if one comes down with a clay pot and the other comes with a small jar; and small rivulets cannot give benefits on the same scale as large canals.

The river tests the work of every one and then deals with them on that basis. It destroys dams made of earth, and submits to concrete ones. Those who leave the river of life uncontrolled, and cannot define a due course for it, cannot reap the benefits available in their own lives.

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