Veteran Pashto literary figure Tahir Afridi passes away

Veteran Pashto poet, writer and literacy critic Tahir Afridi passed away here after a protracted illness. He was 82. His funeral prayers were held in Karachi and he was buried at his hometown near Darra Adamkhel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Literary circles in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta termed the passing of Afridi an irreparable loss for Pashto language and literature. Migrated to Karachi as a labourer in the 1960s, Afridi set up a small firm and settled permanently in the city in 1973.

He started his literary work in 1960 and written his first novel ‘Ta na pa ghum ke kama na yum.’ Afridi has authored 21 books on various themes, including novels, fiction, reportage and travelogue.

He had formed Jaras Adabi Jirga, Karachi, a literary forum in the city, and published a quarterly Pashto literacy journal ‘Jaras.’ “Afridi did not receive formal education, but despite that his literacy work has been included in the syllabus of graduation courses,” said Sarwar Shamal, a noted poet and the Awami National Party Sindh chapter’s cultural secretary.