Khadija Mastoor


Khadija Mastoor was a Pakistani short story writer and novelist who was highly regarded in Urdu literature. Her novel Aangan is widely considered a literary masterpiece in Urdu literature, which has also been made into a television drama. Her younger sister Hajra Masroor was also a short story writer while poet, playwright and newspaper columnist Khalid Ahmad was her younger brother.

Early life

Khadija Mastoor was born on 11 December 1927 in Bareilly, India. Her father Syed Tahoor Ahmad Khan was a Medical Doctor in British Army. He died after a heart attack. She migrated to Lahore with her family after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and settled there.

Literary career

She started writing short stories in 1942 and continued writing till her death. Five books of short stories and two novels have been published until now. Her stories are based on social and moral values as well as political. Her writing is based on experience and observation.
A scholar of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan has done her research about Khadija Mastoor's life and literary contributions. The title of the Thesis is :
"Urdu Afsanvi Adab Ki Riwayat Mein Khadija Mastoor Ka Muqam"
A newspaper writes :

Literary work

;Novels
In 2010, on publishing Khadija Mastoor's novel Aangan, Chairman of Pakistan Academy of Letters, Fakhar Zaman said that the novel Aangan by Khadija Mastoor was considered to be one of her big literary achievements
;Short stories
;Other books
She was married to a journalist Malik Zaheer-ud-Deen Babar Awan and they together had two children Kiran Fayyaz and Malik Pervez Alam Awan.

Death and legacy

Khadija Mastoor died on 25 July 1982 in London, England and was buried in Lahore, Pakistan.
In 2005, an event was arranged at the Karachi Arts Council where the chief guest was her sister Hajra Masroor, a noted writer herself. This event was presided over by another noted scholar Sahar Ansari. Ansari said that both sisters as writers established their own styles and traditions. He also said that Khadija Mastoor simply looked around and wrote down her experiences.