Muhammad Usman Diplai | |
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| Born | (1908-06-13)13 June 1908 |
| Died | 8 February 1981(1981-02-08) (aged 72) |
| Other names | Diplai |
| Occupations | Writer, Freedom Fighter |
| Known for | A promotor of modern education |
| Awards | Pride of Performance Award by thePresident of Pakistan in 2004 |
Muhammad Usman Diplai (Urdu:محمد عثمان ڈیپلائی), popularly known asDiplai (13 June 1908 – 8 February 1981), was a figure ofSindhi literature and journalism.[1]
He was awarded thePride of Performance for literature by thePresident of Pakistan GeneralPervez Musharraf on 23 March 2004.[2]
Muhammad Usman Diplai was born atDiplo, (Tharparkar District) to Mohammad Ali Diplai, in a middle-class family. As per family traditions, he had to engage himself in business. Due to unfavourable circumstances, however, he could not complete his formal education. In early life, he worked with some landlords (zamindars) of the area as a clerk, but continued reading newspapers and magazines. He also acquired proficiency inGujarati,Hindi,Gurmukhi,Urdu languages and a working knowledge in English andPersian. His works included a translation of the Quran in the Sindhi language.[3]
He founded Islamia Press, Quran Press and the Islami Dar-ul-Ishaat, the Adar-i-Insanyat, and the Diplai Academy one after another shortly before theSecond World War, at the historic town of Mirpurkhas, and then moved to Hyderabad in 1942 where he founded the monthly magazineIbrat, which he sold in 1946, it then changed to publishing weekly and eventually daily.[4] He was an essayist, journalist, publisher, distributor, and printer of the Sindhi language.[3]
In 1923, he came across an issue of the Urdu weeklyMunadi, published in Delhi by Khwaja Hassan Nizami which carried an article about the conquest of Sindh by the young warriorMuhammad Bin Qasim. Diplai wrote a letter in Urdu to the editor pinpointing certain historical inaccuracies in the write-up. Hassan Nizami was so much impressed by the letter that he published it as an article. It proved a source of inspiration to Diplai and he started contributing toMunadi andDeen-o-Duniya (Urdu) journals regularly. Later, his Sindhi stories appeared in Sindhi monthlies such asTaraqqi (magazine) andIlmi Dunya.
Pride of Performance Award (posthumously awarded) by thePresident of Pakistan for Literature in 2004[2]
Muhammad Usman Diplai died on 8 February 1981 at age 72.[5]
On the 31st death anniversary of Muhammad Usman Diplai in 2012, many eminent scholars, writers and intellectuals paid tributes to him at an event held atSindhi Language Authority auditorium includingRasool Bux Palijo who said that Diplai struggled for the promotion of education whenSindh was in the stranglehold of feudal lords and pirs. He added that Diplai had shown the way to modern education when Sindh was in desperate need for it.[5]
Another scholarFahmida Hussain noted that Diplai was among the few persons in the 20th century to bring about meaningful reforms in the field of education.[5]
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