ISLAMABAD: The 47th death anniversary of the renowned Pakistani Calligrapher Muhammad Yousuf Dehelvi was observed on Monday.
Born in Delhi in 1894, the inventor of Dehlavi style, Yousuf Dehelvi carved coins and currency notes of Pakistan after independence. He is also recipient of the honor of calligraphy for the Ghilaf e Kaaba (Kiswah).
He also deeply studied the works done by Khattah Abdul Rashid Delmi of Shahjana’s era and introduced unique Dehlvi Nastaleeq utilizing his abilities.
After creation of Pakistan, Muhammad Yusuf Dehlvi was invited to Pakistan with insistence of the then Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and the efforts of Dr Zakir Hussain, where he completed the design and calligraphy work for coins and currency notes of two, five, ten, fifty and one hundred rupees refusing to receive any compensation for this work.
In 1952, he completely shifted to Pakistan and started calligraphic work in Karachi. He also prepared beautiful titles of publications of Urdu Academy Sindh, Taleemi Markaz Karachi, Urdu Markz Lahore, Daarul Ishaat Karachi and other publishers.
The works of Khattati at Governor House Karachi was done by him. He died on this day in 1977 in a road accident in Karachi and buried in Sakhi Hassan graveyard.