Mustafa Zaidi, a well-known poet and a talented CSP officer, was found dead on Oct 12, 1970, in his hotel room in Karachi. 

He died on 12 October 1970, two days after his 40th birthday, under mysterious circumstances.

Found unconscious beside him was Shahnaz Gul, the subject of his several poems. There are two views about Mustafa Zaidi's untimely death. 

The first alleges that he was poisoned by Shahnaz Gul. The other says he had committed suicide. The mystery has not been resolved, no one knows for sure what actually happened on that fateful night and in the absence of convincing evidence no one could be indicted by court. 

The mysterious circumstances and controversies leading to Zaidi's death on 12 October 1970, made headlines in newspapers in Pakistan and threatened to overshadow his legacy as a poet. 

Mustafa Zaidi, whose complete name was Syed Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi was born in Allahabad, India on October 10, 1930.

In 1954, he passed the competitive examination and was sent to England for training before being given the posts of deputy commissioner and deputy secretary.

He married Vera Zaidi, a German, with whom he had a son and a daughter.

In June 1970, he was dismissed from civil service along with 38 other CSP officers by President Gen. Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan's regime.

He also wrote under his pen-name Tegh Allahabadi. His initial poetry was romantic in nature. At the age of 17, published his first collection of poetry Zanjeeren in 1949, followed by, Zangeerein (1949), Roshni (1950), Shehr-e-Azar (City of Idol Worshippers; 1958), Mauj Meri Sadaf Sadaf (1960), Gareban (1964), Qaba-e-Saaz (1967) and Koh-e-Nida (1971) (published posthumously). His complete work was published as Kulliyaat-i-Mustafa Zaidi posthumously.

Here is one of his most famous verses:

انہیں پتھروں پہ چل کر اگر آ سکو تو آؤ

  مرے گھر کے راستے میں کوئی کہکشاں نہیں ہے