Shaukat Siddiqui (March 20, 1923-December 18, 2006) was an eminent Urdu novelist and fiction writer of Paxxstan. He is known for his world renowned novel Khuda xx Basti (God's Own Land) and Jangloos.
Shaukat Siddiqui was born on March 20, 1923 in a literary family of Lucknow, India. He got his early education from his home town and earned a B.A. in 1944 and M.A. (Political Science) in 1944. After partition of India, he migrated to Paxxstan in 1950 and stayed in Lahore but soon permanently settled in Karachi. His early days in Paxxstan were full of financial trouble and political opposition, which he soon overcame. He accompanied Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a lot of his foreign tours.
He was an active member of Paxxstan Writers' Guild and a partisan of progressive writers association. Shaukat Siddiqi worked at the news-desks of the Times of Karachi, Paxxstan Standard and the Morning News. He finally rose to be the editor of the Daily Anajam, the Weekly Al-Fatah and the Daily Musawat Karachi, before bidding goodbye to journalism in 1984.
He died on December 18, 2006 in Karachi at the age of 83, he left behind 2 sons and 3 daughters.
===Literary work===
Shaukat Siddiqui's first piece of writing was a short story, Kon xxsi ka, published in Weekly Khayyam Lahore. In 1952, his first collection of short stories, �Teesra Admi� (1952), was brought out and proved to be a great success. Subsequently, other collections of short stories Andhere Dur Andhere (1955), Raton Ka Shahar (1956) and Keemya Gar (1984), followed.
His magnum opus is Khuda xx Basti (God's Own Land) and has gone through 46editions and enjoys the distinction of having been translated into 26 international languages. It has been dramatised time and again. Its English translation by Prof David Mathews of London University was equally a success.
Other novels of Shaukat Siddiqui are Kamin Gah (1956), Janglos (1988) and Char Deewari (1990) based on his own childhood memories in a fictitious manner.
===Awards===
Adamjee Award (1960)
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