Faiz Ahmad Faiz

Faiz Ahmad Faiz (Urdu: فیض احمد فیض; 13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984) MBE, NI, was an influential left-wing intellectual, revolutionary poet, and one of the most famous poets of the Urdu language from Pakistan. A notable member of the Progressive Writers' Movement (PWM), Faiz was an avowed Marxist and a recipient of Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union in 1962. Despite being repeatedly accused of atheism by the political and military establishment, Faiz's poetry suggested a complicated relationship with religion in general and with Islam in particular. He was, nevertheless, inspired by South Asia's Sufi traditions.

Faiz was controversially named and linked by Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan's government for hatching the conspiracy (see Rawalpindi conspiracy case) against Liaquat Ali Khan's government, along with a left-wing military sponsor Major-General Akbar Khan. Having been arrested by Military police, Faiz among others received a maximum sentence by JAG branch, although his sentence was commuted after the assassination Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951.