Pashto actor Riaz Akhtar passes away

MARDAN: Prominent Pashto actor Riaz Akhtar passed away after protracted illness here on Thursday.

His Namaz-e-Janaza was offered at Sheikh Maltoon Town on Thursday and attended by a large number of people. He was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard.

His Qul would be held at Sheikh Maltoon Town on Saturday.

Belonging to a prominent family of Mardan, Riaz Akhtar started his career in 1982 from the Pakistan Television and played important roles in different Pashto and Urdu dramas.

Riaz Akhtar got fame from the Pashto drama “Bandoona.” He played main role in various dramas of PTV Peshawar Centre including Roki Lari, Khandan, and Aatam Samandar. He once acted the role of Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif in the Geo TV programme “Hum Sab Ummeed Se Hein.”Riaz Akhtar also acted in several Pashto movies, including “Za Badmash Yam” and “Sitamgar.”