Noted Pashto scholar Mushtaq Majrooh Yousafzai dies of Covid-19

PESHAWAR: Renowned Pashto poet, critic and research scholar Mushtaq Majrooh Yousafzai died of Covid-19 here on Thursday, family sources and doctors said. He was 65.

He has left behind a widow, three sons and two daughters to mourn his death. He was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Mayar village in Mardan.

A large number of poets, writers from different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, locals and fans attended his Namaz-e-Janaza.

He was shifted from Mardan to a private hospital in Peshawar after developing breathing complications on December 24 last.

He tested positive for Covid-19 and remained under treatment there. However, he was shifted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) a week ago where he breathed his last.

Literary circles and associations from across the province have expressed deep sorrow over his death and termed it an irrespirable loss to Pashto language and literature and Pakhtuns at large.

Being author of several books, Mushtaq Majrooh Yousafzai had many fans and followers in Afghanistan, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and enjoyed great reputation among literary organizations because of his vast scholarship, especially on Pashto classical literature, linguistics and Khushal Khan Khattak.