Three prominent men in their fields died in KP recently

PESHAWAR: Three men from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who made a name for themselves in different fields died in the last few days.

The most prominent among them was Omar Khan Afridi, who served as chief secretary of the province and secretary to the President of Pakistan before retirement from service. He was 87.

He also served on other high positions, including the administrator of Islamabad Capital Territory. He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army before joining the civil service.

The mild-mannered civil servant from Kohat also pursued literary work and wrote two books, including one on the Pakhtuns.

He was laid to rest in his ancestral Babri Banda village in Kohat.

Omar Khan Afridi was the father of Justice Yahya Afridi, the judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan who earlier remained chief justice of Peshawar High Court.

Senior cop Mohammad Yamin Khan, who hailed from Swabi district, also passed away recently. He was serving as Deputy Inspector General of Police (Crimes), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He suffered a heart attack on Thursday and couldn’t survive. His funeral was held on Friday at the Swabi Ground.

Yamin Khan had served as head of the police force in different districts. He also held high positions in the police headquarters in Peshawar. He was known as a brave cop who stood his ground in difficult situations.

He too had a taste for literature and used to write occasionally.

Sadruddin Khan Marwat, a lawyer and politician, also died on Thursday due to complications of his heart disease. His Nimaz-i-Janaza was performed in his native village, Mamakhel Marwat, in Sarai Naurang tehsil in Lakki Marwat district on Friday.

The 62-year old Sadruddin Marwat had remained the provincial spokesman of the Awami National Party (ANP). He also served as the Lakki Marwat district president of the party. The party announced a three-day mourning in his memory in Lakki Marwat.

A diehard Pakhtun nationalist, Sadruddin Marwat hailed from a family of Khudai Khidmatgars in Mamakhel Marwat village. The family members were followers of late freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan aka Bacha Khan.

Sadruddin Marwat was a student leader of the Pakhtun Students Federation and later joined the ANP. He remained associated with the party all his life. His wife, Yasmin Zia Marwat, was elected MPA on the ANP ticket in the 2008 general election.