Pashto research scholar and poet Salim Raz succumbs to coronavirus
Pashto research scholar and poet Salim Raz succumbed to coronavirus in Peshawar on Monday.
As being reported, the octogenarian literatus was admitted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) HMC a month ago after he had tested positive for the Covid-19.
His funeral was offered at his hometown in Charsadda which was attended by a large number of poets, writers, right activists, and local elders.
He was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Sukkarr village
Late Mohammad Salim, better known as Salim Raz started his writing career in the early 1960s and after completing his intermediate education from the historic Islamia College Peshawar.
He had devoted himself to the cause of serving the masses through his writings.
His literary works include Da Zakhmoonu Sparlay, (poetry) Tanqeedi Karkhay (research papers), La Baray Tar Baragalai (reportage), Za Lamha Lamha Qatlegam (poetry), and 50 Years of Pashto Poetry (research).
His literary and social contributions spread over 50 years and was a recipient of more than 50 awards, including the President’s Pride of Performance Award for his excelling literary contributions.
Salim Raz associated himself with trade unionist and progressive writers’ organizations and also became one of the pioneers of a popular literary organization launched by Qalandar Momand named Da Sahu Leekunkio Adabi Maraka, in 1962 in Peshawar.
Salim Raz launched a literary organization in Karachi in 1968 and also pioneered Awami Adabi Anjuman and was appointed its general secretary.
After locating back to Peshawar in 1978, he founded Pakistan Adabi Markaz, an inclusive literary body for promoting Pashto, Hindko, and Urdu, and served it in different capacities.
Salim Raz was made the chairman of the World Pashto Conference in 1986, and a year later he conducted a three-day successful international conference in Peshawar.
In 2000, he was able to arrange the second conference. While in 2015, he organized World Pashto Convention in Karachi, and on the occasion, he was appointed central president of the Pakistan Progressive Writers Association.
His death is being regarded as an irreparable loss to Pashto literature, by the literary bodies of Pashto, Urdu, and Hindko.
