PAL condoles deaths of 2 literary personalities

Islamabad: The literary world can never forget the services of eminent Pushto and Urdu writer Dr. Asif Farrukhi, who died of cardiac arrest at the age of 61 years in Karachi, and Urdu and Pashto poet, writer and anchor Abid Shah Abid, who also died of heart disease in Quetta at the age of 83 years.

In separate messages released to condole the death of the two literary personalities, the Chairman of the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) Dr. Yousuf Khushk said, Asif Farrukhi rendered valuable services in fiction, criticism, research, translation, and column writing in Pakistani, Urdu and English literature. He translated, edited and compiled numerous books and also wrote for newspapers. His books are ‘Aalam Ejad,’ ‘Aatish Fishan Par Khile Gulab,’ ‘Cheezen Aur Log,’ ‘Cheezon Ki Kahaniyan,’ ‘Ism-e-Aazam Ki Talash’ and ‘Mere Din Guzar Rahe Hain’—all of them valuable assets for Pakistani literature.

In addition to writing ‘Intezar Hussain: Saksiyat o Fan,’ for the PAL Series Makers of Pakistani literature, Asif also edited the Academy’s English magazine ‘Pakistani Literature.’ Asif received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literature in 1995, and the Tamgha e Imtiaz in 2005 for his literary services.