Renowned Pakistani journalist Afzal Khan passes away

Veteran Pakistani journalist and former Washington correspondent of the Associated Press of Pakistan Afzal Khan passed away in Virginia on Thursday.

Khan had been unwell in the last few years with cardiac complications and was under treatment at a hospital in Virginia.

Khan had an illustrious career as a journalist, starting off as a reporter in Multan and rising to become Executive Director of the Associated Press of Pakistan at the news organization’s headquarters in Islamabad. Khan, working with leading journalist M Aftab, the Director General of Associated Press of Pakistan in the 1990s, devoted great attention to modernizing the country’s premier organization and raising its professional standing.

Khan witnessed and reported on some of the defining turns of Pakistan’s history in the last half century.

He was born in Sialkot and lived in Multan before moving to major centers of journalism.

He was also a longtime correspondent for The Khaleej Times.

During his career, Khan was also on the forefront of struggles for the rights of working journalists and served as secretary general of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.

His work in Islamabad and Washington made him a prominent expert on several subjects.

Pakistani journalists and civil society leaders expressed condolences on the passing away of Afzal Khan.

Pakistan’s current ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, who was the country’s ambassador to the U.S. when Afzal Khan reported for APP, expressed sorrow over the demise of the journalist, saying she has been saddened by the loss of a great professional and good human being.

Iftikhar Ali and Khalil Bughio, who both worked as correspondents of the Associated Press of Pakistan in New York and Washington respectively, paid tributes to their colleague for his high caliber reporting and journalistic insight.