Iftikhar Qaisar (Urdu: افتخار قیصر; born 2 May) is a British Pakistani journalist, poet, broadcaster, travel writer and film maker.
[2] Besides his numerous professional accolades he is known as an adventure traveler as he enjoys riding his Harley Davidson motorbike for thousands of miles during summer vacations.
Although being born in Pakputtan he grew up and studied in another Sufi poet’s (Khawaja Ajmair Chishti) Chishtian Manddi.
[citation needed] Pakistan was created only eleven years before Iftikhar Qaisar was born so he remembers growing up surrounded by immigrants sobbing of home sickness for Jalandhar, India.
Iftikhar Qaisar's mother's ‘tribe’ were also Indian immigrants who were moved from Hoshiarpur India to Pakputtan Pakistan - they held the same view/feelings as his father's 'tribe'.
He remembered hating the Pakistani education system as a child and so spent most of his time at the only local library in his town rather than at school.
He started to write his poetry in school and was encouraged by his tutor Abdul Hamid Shakeb who was himself a poet and writer.
Celebrities included Dilip Kumar, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Madam Noor Jahan, Benazir Bhutto, Imran Khan, Kumar Sanu, Noshad, Alka Yagnik, Shabnum, Tony Benn MP, Wali Khan, Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi, Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, Maulana Abdul Sattar Niazi, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Altaf Hussain, Ahmed Faraz, Saqi Farooqi, Iftikhar Arif, Gopi Chand Narang, Keith Vaz MP, Sir Anwar Pervez, Gulam Noon MBE and General Aslam Baig.
This time, although still based in London, ‘Jang Forum’ travelled the UK and Europe with its production team and met local audiences.
Some of the highlights of their travels included Brussels,[9] Barcelona,[10] Amsterdam,[11] Rochdale[12] Glasgow, [1],[13] Manchester,[14] Peterborough,[15] Luton[16] and Birmingham.
He produced his first 13 episode Urdu TV Drama serial ‘Muhabatain’ in London in 1999 which aired on PTV (Pakistan Television).
His first poetry reading was in SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) London University which was organised by Urdu Markaz.
When Benazir Bhutto was forced as a political exile to London Iftikhar Qaisar was requested to read his popular and patriotic poetry at her massive public rallies.
At the height of activity in his poetic life during the eighties and early nineties many great Urdu and Punjabi poets appreciated his poetry in their interviews and writing.
The great poets and critics who spoke and wrote in favour of his poetry include Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Ahmed Faraz, Habib Jalib, Mushfiq Khwaja, Gopi Chand Narang, Zia Jalandhari, Saqi Farooqi, Iftikhar Arif, Shohrat Bukhari, Farigh Bukhari and Baqir Naqvi.
During the same period his poetry was published in a number of top Pakistani and Indian literary publications such as Fanoon, Naqoosh, Adb-e-Latif and Rakhta.