Gul Pacha Ulfat was born in 1909 in Qarghayi District

Qarghayi District

Qarghayi District has 60 villages. It is the largest district in Laghman Province, and is located 30 km from the provincial centre of Mihtarlam. It borders Mihtarlam District to the north, Alingar District to the northeast, Nangarhar Province to the south and Kabul Province to the west. The...

 of Laghman Province, Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. Ulfat was the prominent poet and author of the Pashto language

Pashto language

Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...

.

Early life

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

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

 and Tafseer from the local islamic scholars.

Work life

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

Jalalabad

Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...

, capital of Nangarhar Province

Nangarhar Province

Nangarhar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan in the east of the country. Its capital is the city of Jalalabad. The population of the province is 1,334,000, which consists mainly of ethnic Pashtuns with a sizable community of Arabs and Pashais....

, 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

Kabul University

Kabul University is located in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It was founded in 1931 but officially opened for classes in 1932. Kabul University is currently attended by approximately 7,000 students, of which 1,700 are women. As of 2008, Hamidullah Amin is the chancellor of the 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

Ghulam Hassan Safi

Ghulam Hassan Safi was a prominent Afghan politician and diplomat. He was one of the founding member of Afghan political movement Weesh Zalmyan...

, 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 1945.

Academic contributions

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.

Death

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.