ISALMAABD (PAN): On behalf of President Hamid Karzai, the Afghan embassy in Islamabad on Thursday provided financial aid to Murad Shinwari, the son of renowned Pashto poet Amir Hamza Shinwari.

Shinwari, 80, has been seriously ill over the past few months. He is under medical treatment in a Peshawar hospital. Like his father, he enjoys fame and respect as a poet.

Afghan Cultural Attaché Zardasht Shams visited the ailing poet in hospital on Wednesday on the advice of President Karzai, a press release from the embassy said.

The attaché conveyed the best wishes of the president and Ambassador Muhammad Omer Daudzai for Shinwari's speedy recovery, the statement added.

Shams paid 100,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,110) to Sajjad Shinwari, the son of the ailing writer. The recipient thanked the Afghan president for the assistance and his goodwill gesture.

mas/mud