Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi was born in a well-educated family of Jaipur (British India). His father, Abdul Karim Khan Yusufi, was the Speaker of the Jaipur Legislative Assembly. Yusufi earned a B.A. from Agra University before coming to Aligarh. He completed an M.A. in Philosophy and an LL.B. from Aligarh Muslim University and joined the Indian Civil Service soon after. After partition, his family migrated to Pakistan, where he became the chairman of the Banking Commission of Pakistan in the 1970s. He has been awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian honours conferred by the Government of Pakistan. He also received the ‘Kamal-e-Fun Award’, the highest literary award by the Pakistan Academy of Letters in 1999. His famous collections include Charagh Taly, Khaakam Badahan, Aab-E-Gum, and Zarguzasht.