Khurshid Anwar Jilani was an attorney, author, poet, radio talk show writer and philanthropist.

Early life and education

Born in Zira (Punjab in British India) on September 3, 1904, migrated to Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 after Independence. In 1934, he earned his Bachelor's degree from the University of the Punjab

University of the Punjab

University of the Punjab , colloquially known as Punjab University, is located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The University of the Punjab is the oldest and biggest University of Pakistan. The University of the Punjab was formally established with the convening of the first meeting of its...

, Lahore

Lahore

Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

 and later graduated from Law College Lahore.

Career

Besides his many unpublished works due to his sudden death to thyroid cancer, he authored "Flora Neelofer", "Chughatta", "Do Musafir" and "Anvarat" in Urdu fiction, in addition to translations of Masnavi Maulana Rome and Rubatayet Omar Khayam, from Persian to versified Urdu and English, still in the works for publishing. His mini articles "reportaz" and "Bhukshu ki Dua" enjoyed big readership.

As a Trustee of the Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...

 city, rehabilitating the refugees from the biggest human migration of mankind in 1947; he accidentally came across hundreds of thousands of published and unpublished books, manuscripts, and works of art. These very rare, invaluable, hand written, miniature illustrated works or books were being dumped over a patio in the local court house, by city workers. These included manuscripts of "Shahnama-e-Firdausi", "Tuzk-e- Babri" , "Gulistan-e-Saadi", "Rubayat-e-Omar Khayam", "Baghdadee Bibles" and "Quran".

In 1948 he founded the " Rawalpindi Public Library ", first public library ever established in Pakistan, and, with the approval of then deputy commissioner, Major Davis (husband of Mrs. Davis of Mrs. Davis' Motel) who donated a large building (on Mission Road, now Trunk Bazar) to preserve and catalog the priceless literature from destruction. 478,774 manuscripts, books and artifacts in 27 languages were cataloged (by Abdul Qadeer et al, editor of Rah e Nau). Besides major language works, they included sanskrit, punjabi (devnagri & shahmukhi), pushto, farsee, kashmiri, uzbek, turkeman, baluchi, maya and others. Soon after his death in 1963 at Rawalpindi, library building was grabbed by influential politicians, with the manuscripts and artifacts openly looted and carried away as collector's items.

His legacy is survived by writers & novelists; Ahmed Javed Jilani, Ahmad Taufiq Jilani (Lahore) and Farzana Agha Jilani (Islamabad). And entrepreneur, inventor and industrial designer, Tauqir A. Jilani, (founder of VideoShack & Jilani Motoronics Co) builder and manufacturer of hybrid and tribrid, electric-solar-gas vehicles in California, New Mexico and Arizona.

Radio programs

Some of his Radio programs that were written and narrated by him.

• "Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hay"

• "Banam-e-Haq-o-Insaf" (United Nations
  United Nations
  The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
  
   reports on Indian atrocities & genocides in Kashmir
  Kashmir
  Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
  
  )

• "Pindi Ki Shikar Gahen"

• "Kallar Kahar"

• "Kala Pahar"

• "Islam Ka Aftab Chamka"

• "Aatish-e-Namrood", to name a few, were written and narrated by him.