Deewan Singh Maftoon was a famous Urdu journalist and activist of the freedom movement in British India. He got fame through his editorials in which he highlighted the issues of public under British Raj and Princely States.
He belonged to a Sikh family of Hafizabad in now Pakistan but later migrated to Dehli in his twenties where he met Khawaja Hassan Nizami and both started the newspaper Rayyat. Due to their aggressive stance against the British government, they were forced to close the paper. After some time, Deewan Singh started newspaper Riyasat. The birth of the Riyasat was a notable event in Urdu journalism as it was a real putsch so far as princely India was concerned. Several cases were brought up against it and its editor soon.

Maftoon had a natural talent for writing. His Urdu prose is acclaimed for its lucidity and exactness. He penned an autobiography titled Naqabil-e- Faramosh. The book contained many historical facts regarding India. He penned another book Jazbaat-e-Mashriq