PESHAWAR: Pir Syed Sufaid Shah Hamdard, the founding editor-in-chief and proprietor of Pashto daily, Wahdat, died here on Tuesday.
He had been under treatment at a hospital in Peshawar for the last three weeks. His Namaz-e-Janaza will be held today (Wednesday) at 11 am near his house on the Canal Shami Road close to Alam Bagh on Warsak Road at Peshawar. The deceased had launched daily Wahdat first is Urdu and later converted it into Pashto in the 1970s. It was the biggest Pashto language newspaper in Pakistan and was read by Afghan refugees and Pakistani Pashto speakers. I
t backed the Afghan mujahideen fight the Soviet occupying forces and highlighted the issues of Afghan refugee. The government of Pakistan conferred the Pride of Performance Award and the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz on Pir Sufaid Shah in recognition of his meritorious services in the field of journalism. The World Pashto Conference had given him the title of the Father of Pashto Journalism.
Pir Sufaid Shah Hamdard, who was among the senior most journalists in the country, had remained the vice-president and executive committee member of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS). His death has been widely condoled by the journalists, media organization owners and government functionaries.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in his condolence message shared the grief of the bereaved family and prayed for the departed soul. Kamran Bangash, the special assistant to the chief minister on information and higher education, noted that Pir Sufaid Shah Hamard’s services in the field of journalism would be long remembered. Awami National Party (ANP)’s provincial president Aimal Wali Khan and general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak in their condolence message expressed sympathy with the bereaved family and prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in peace and grant courage to it to bear this loss with patience. He was the father of retired Colonel Syed Saud Shah Gilani, Syed Rahamdil Shah, Syed Haroon Shah, chief executive of daily Wahdat, and Syed Sajawal Shah. He was the father-in-law of Maulana Arshad Ali Qureshi.