Pazhwak services remembered on 100th birthday

KABUL): The 100th birth anniversary of Abdul Rahman Pazhwak, a poet and diplomat, was observed in the capital Kabul on Saturday.

Born on March 7, 1919, Pazhwak was educated in Afghanistan before he started his career as a journalist, but eventually joined the foreign ministry.

During the 1950s he became Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Nations and served as president of the UN General Assembly from 1966 to 1967.

During the early 1970s, he served for short periods as Afghan ambassador to West Germany and India. In 1976 he became ambassador to the United Kingdom, a position he held until the 1978 communist coup.

He then returned to Afghanistan and was put under house arrest. He was allowed to leave for medical treatment in 1982. He got asylum in the US, where he lived until 1991, when he moved to Peshawar, Pakistan.

Pazhwak died in Hayatabad, a posh locality in Peshawar in 1995 at the age of 76 years and was buried in native village of Baghwani in the Surkhrud district of eastern Nangarhar province.

Pazhwak also worked as executive chief of Islah Newspaper, director of Bakhtar News Agency, head of Pashto, human rights activists besides holding other posts.

He translated and authored many books including Bano-i-Balkh, Hamasa-i-Naheed Nama, Gul Hai Andesha, Afsana Hai Mardum, Yak Zan, Awara, Gul Hai Kohi.

Speaking at his birth anniversary, Foreign Minister Dr. Zalmai Rassoul praised Pazhwak as Afghanistan’s great intellectual, who spared no effort in making the media freed of censorship.

He said Pazhwak had played a great role in building Afghanistan’s relations with the international community.

The minister said Pazhwak’s achievements during the reign of King Zahir Shah on development, cultural, political and economic fronts would be remembered for a long time.

On the occasion, President Hamid Karzai’s message was also read out. Karzai said Pazhwak had matchless contributions towards the promotion of Afghan culture as a successful poet and author.

mrh/ma/mud

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