Ahmad Salim

Ahmad Salim or Muhammad Salim Khawaja (26 January 1945 – 11 December 2023) was a Pakistani writer, archivist and co-founder of the South Asian Resource and Research Centre, a private archive established in 2001.

Muhammad Salim Khawaja was born in the village of Miana Gondal in Gujrat District of Punjab.

He was the fourth among seven brothers and sisters.

Salim's early education was in Miana Gondal, before going to Peshawar for matriculation.

While studying in Peshawar, Salim made acquaintance with writers and poets; notably Farigh Bukhari, Mohsin Ahsan, Raza Hamdani, and Jauhar Meer.

After matriculating from Peshawar, Salim moved to Karachi for his intermediate education.

He got admission to Urdu College.

Around that time Salim participated in a competition arranged by Afkar, a literary magazine.

Participants were asked to write their thoughts on Faiz Ahmad Faiz's poetry.

Ahmad Salim's poem on Faiz got first prize in the competition.

At that time Faiz was the principal of Abdullah Haroon College.

On Faiz's invitation, Ahmad Salim joined Abdullah Haroon College.

After completing high school (Intermediate) Ahmad Salim joined the National Bank in 1968.

Later he was transferred to Rawalpindi where he continued working for that bank through 1969.

Ahmad Salim then moved to Lahore and started teaching at Shah Hussain College.

During 1969–1971 he was associated with National Awami Party (NAP), and was briefly put in jail in 1971 for his criticism of the Pakistan Army's operation in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

In 1972 Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto appointed Faiz as the Chairman of the National Council of Arts.

On Faiz's invitation, Ahmad Salim joined the council.

During his association with the National Council of Arts from 1972 through 1975, Ahmad Salim operated the Folklore Research Centre and published material on Punjabi and Sindhi folklore.

Ahmad Salim left the Council shortly after Faiz left that institution in 1974.

From 1976 to 1977, Ahmad Salim taught at Sindh University, Jamshoro.

He taught a course on Pakistani languages—the course material was developed by him.

At that time Shaikh Ayaz was the Vice-Chancellor of Sindh University.

Ahmad Salim enjoyed good relations with Shaikh Ayaz, as he had translated Ayaz's poetry into Punjabi.

Ahmad Salim's principal work at the Sindh University was to translate Shah Hussain's poetry into Sindhi, and Bhitai's work into Punjabi, though he could not complete the latter.

During his stay at the Sindh University, Ahmad Salim also completed his Bachelor of Arts degree.

After Bhutto imposed martial law, Ahmad Salim moved to Karachi in late 1977.

There he wrote reviews of TV programs for Daily Aman (Editor: Afzal Siddiqui).

For supplemental income, Ahmad Salim did a lot of translation work too, and came to popularly known as Ahmad Salim Muttarajjim (translator).

In 1979 he got admission in MA Philosophy at Karachi University.

He completed his MA with a gold medal.

It was around that time that Ahmad Salim got married.

Starting from 1981 he edited JafaKash, a labour magazine.

A close association grew between Faiz and Ahmad Salim and continued till Faiz's death in 1984.

In 1985–1988, Ahmad Salim taught a course on Pakistani languages at Karachi University — the same course that he had taught at Sindh University.

After separating from his wife in 1988 Ahmad Salim moved to Lahore.

He had one daughter from that marriage.

When Pakistan's National and Provincial assemblies were dissolved by President Ghulam Ishaque Khan in 1990, the Jang group asked Ahmad Salim to write a book on Pakistan's history related to the dissolution of assemblies.

Ahmad Salim quickly learned about the scarcity of research material and the difficulty in obtaining information from government institutes.

He started collecting and archiving material of historical importance.