Senior journalist Abdul Wahid Yousafi laid to rest

PESHAWAR: Senior journalist Abdul Wahid Yousafi was laid to rest here Saturday after a largely attended funeral.

Politicians, government officials, businessmen, notables of the city and journalists offered the Nimaz-i-Janaza at the Cantonment Board Park in the Shami Road residential locality. He was later buried at the Cantonment Board cemetery on Warsak Road.

Abdul Wahid Yousafi, a journalist for the last five decades, had breathed his last Friday evening after a long illness. He was the chief editor and proprietor of Urdu daily, Aaj, which he launched after working for years in a number of Urdu newspapers in Peshawar. His first job as a reporter was in an Urdu daily Tarjuman-i-Afghan before finally joining Mashriq where he rose to the position of resident editor. His widow, sons Mohammad Ali Yousafzai and Arsalan Khan Yousafzai, and two daughters are among his survivors.

The mourners included Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Farhatullah Babar, who came from Islamabad to attend the funeral of his old friend.

Abdur Rauf Yousafzai, a senior cop who retired as deputy inspector general of police, also came despite his disability after having suffered a stroke some months ago. He was in pain as he laid a flower wreath on the grave of Abdul Wahid Yousafi. Senior journalists Ahmad Hasan and Mohsin Raza came from Islamabad to pay their last respects to Abdul Wahid Yousafi. Ambassador Rustam Shah Mohmand, JUI-F’s Ghulam Ali, PTI’s provincial information minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, former minister Humayun Saifullah and local politician Intikhab Khan Chamkani and many other politicians, retired and serving civil and police officers were conspicuous by their presence. The deceased’s journalist colleagues were present in large numbers. Among them were his friends and contemporaries, subordinates and those who had groomed to become known journalists.