Ghani Khan Poetry and Life Journey

Ghani Khan was a great Pashto poet, philosopher, and writer. He was born in a political family, his father Abdul Ghaffar Khan(Bacha Khan) was an independent activist who worked to promote the cause of Pashtoons during the British-raj in India. Ghani Khan is also known by other names for his poetry such as Lewani Falsfi(The mad Philosopher) and Da Elam Samandar(Ocean of Wisdom).

Ghani Khan was initially influenced by his father's politics at the early age of his life and hence he started to struggle for the independence of Pashtoons from the British but soon he fed up with his father's cause and quit politics. As his family was a prominent political party that was against the creation of Pakistan, therefore after the partition of India Ghani Khan was arrested by the Government of Pakistan in 1948. For Ghani Khan's poetry, it can be said that Ghani's life in jail was his golden era of poetry. He wrote many poems in jail, his most prominent "Da  panjare chaghar" was also written in jail. He was released from jail in 1954 but the books and writings of Ghani Khan were banned in Pakistan. Therefore, he published most of his books and poetry in Afghanistan. The poetry of Ghani Khan has an exceptional style, he took the Pashto poetry to a new level. He is often regarded as the Jhon Keats of the Pashto language. Apart from the Pashto poetry of Ghani Khan, he also wrote a book in English named 'The Pathans'

The writings of Ghani Khan were ignored by the government of Pakistani and due to the ban, Ghani Poetry never reached the common man. During the last days of Ghani Khan's life, Sardar Ali Takker fell in love with his poetry. He explored his writings and afterward used them as lyrics for his songs. Initially, he recorded his music albums in Afghanistan but when those albums reached Pakistan, they became quite popular among Pakistani Pashtoons and so as Ghani Khan. Later on, his poetry was added into the Pashto literature and today his poetry is the pride of the Pashto language. For his contributions to Pashto literature the President of Pakistan, General Zia ul Haq awarded him with Sitara e Imtiaz.