Kazi Abdul Jaleel (Sindhi: قاضي عبدالجليل; born 1936 in Rohri), popularly known as Amar Jaleel, is a Sindhi fiction writer and a columnist whose columns appear in various Sindhi, Urdu and English-language dailies of Pakistan. He has authored 20 books, and received awards including Pride of Performance, the highest literary award in Pakistan, and Akhal Bharat Sindhi Sahat Sabha National Award (India).

Early life

Jaleel started writing stories when he was 3 years old. He played for his NJV School and also featured briefly in first class cricket as a wicketkeeper-batsman.

Professional career

Amar Jaleel started his career at Radio Pakistan, Karachi before being transferred to Islamabad, where he worked in different positions at radio and educational institutions. Now retired, Jaleel currently resides in Karachi, Sindh, where he spends his leisure time writing articles for various Pakistan newspapers, and is known as a popular columnist for Dawn and The Nation currently working with a private regional Sindhi TV channel as anchor program class room.

Thinking

As a left-wing political analyst he has repeatedly returned to one theme: why partition was wrong. Amar Jaleel is a prominent polemicist against the All-India Muslim League.

Criticism

In 2017, during Sindh Literature Festival, Jaleel read a story خدا گم ٿي ويو (Khuda gum thee wayo, The God disappeared). Video of the session went viral on social media in March 2021. The video irked religious fundamentalists and they took his views as blasphemy of God. Jaleel was threatened to death by religious extremists. His opponents used Twitter and other social media networks to get him arrested and hanged publicly. While his supporters showed solidarity with him.

Books

He has written hundreds of short stories in Sindhi; he has also written one novel in Sindhi titled Naith Gongey Ghalahyo نيٺ گونگي ڳالهايو ("Thus Dumb Spoke"). Some of Amar Jaleel's best known books are: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sir-Amar-Jaleel-Abdul-Jaleel-Qazi/170964249623560?ref=hl

Articles and essays

Awards and recognition