Saqi, Karachi

In 1930, Shahid Ahmed Dehlvi, the grandson of Urdu’s first novelist Deputy Nazir Ahmed and the son of Bashiruddin Ahmed (author of Waqiat-e-Dar-ul-Hukumat), launched a magazine named Saqi from Delhi. After the partition of India, it continued its publication from Karachi. The magazine’s primary objective was to preserve the language and culture of Shahjahanabad. Its name, Saqi, was chosen by drawing an omen from Diwan-e-Hafiz. From September 1948 to April 1967, Saqi remained a hub of literature, knowledge, history, culture, civilization, traditions, and aesthetics, marking a golden chapter in literary history.