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Renowned Sindhi fiction writer and columnist Amar Jaleel was on Monday named as the recipient of Kamal-i-Fun Award 2016 by a jury selected by the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL).

Kamal-i-Fun is the highest award in the field of literature. The recipient is also given Rs1 million.

Mr Jaleel, who was born on November 8, 1936, in Sukkur, has written a number of books and also received many awards, including Pride of Performance (Pakistan) and Akhal Bharat Sindhi Sahat Sabha National Award of India.

The 11-member jury held a meeting at PAL and took almost two hours to decide the name of the winner.

Zahida Hina, the head of the jury, told a press conference that there were a number of names but the jury unanimously decided to give the award to Mr Jaleel.

PAL Chairman Dr Qasim Bughio told mediapersons that the jury consisted of literary personalities such as Asghar Nadeem Syed, Madad Ali Sindhi, Mohammad Ayub Baloch, Dr Abdul Razaq Sabir, Dr Nazeer Tabassum, Hafeez Khan, Dr Inamul Haq Javed, Dr Aslam Taseer, Mohammad Afsar Sajid and Dr Tahseen Firaqui.

He also announced the names of the recipients of the National Literary Award for the year 2016 on the best literary books written during the year in Urdu and other languages.

An amount of Rs200,000 will also be given to each of the recipients.

In Urdu poetry, Dr Allama Mohammad Iqbal Award is given to Zafar Iqbal for his book Abb Tak, in Urdu prose Baba-i-Urdu Molvi Abdul Haq Award is given to Nasir Abbas Nayyer for his book Urdu Adab Kee Tashkeel-i-Jadeed.

In Punjabi, the Syed Waris Shah Award is given to Parveen Malik for her book Kasyan Da Paani and in the Sindhi language the Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Award is given to Dr Ghulam Ali Allana for his book Ganan Shanasi.

In Pushto, the Khushhal Khan Khattak Award is given to Syed Tahir Bukhari for his book Tanqeed o Adabi Muferdat, in Balochi the Mast Tawakli Award is given to A. R. Daad for his book Dar Kasehi Labzank, in Seraiki language Khwaja Ghulam Fareed Award is given to Rifat Abbas for his book Ein Narangi Ander, in Brahui language Taj Mohammad Tajal Award is given to Abdul Qayum Bedar for his book Brahui Stage Drama, in Hindko language Saeen Ahmad Ali Award is given to Ahmad Hussain Mujahid for his book Qenchi.

In English language, the Patras Bukhari Award is given to Ejaz Rahim for his book Sacred Thirsts, in translation Mohammad Hasan Askari Award is given to Shahid Hinai for his book Muntakhab Sindhi Kahanian.

Intizar Hussain Award from next year

Dr Bughio said the prime minister had released funds for the Intizar Hussain Award which would be given from the next year.

“Moreover, this year two awards are given for books written in Urdu and one each in other languages but from the next year three awards will be given in the category of Urdu books and two in each category of other languages.

The Intizar Hussain Award will be one of them and its recipient will also be given Rs 400,000, he said.

Originally published in Dawn, December 19th, 2017