‘The News’ staffer grieved

Islamabad: Colonel (r) Masud Akhtar Shaikh, father of senior correspondent of ‘The News’ Shahina Maqbool, peacefully passed away at the age of 92 years at his residence here on Friday.

Born in Rawalpindi in 1928, Masud was a soldier, a diplomat, a writer, and an author who travelled the world, rubbing shoulders not only with other literati but also with world leaders, presidents and prime ministers.

Masud graduated from Gordon College in 1948 andthe same year was selected for a commission in the Pakistan Army, wherefrom he retired as a Colonel in 1977. During his career in the Army, he studied the Turkish language and qualified as a first-class Turkish interpreter in 1963. In 1966, he was sent to Istanbul for the Turkish Staff College course—a period during which he got deeply interested in Turkish language. And then there was no looking back; he translated a large number of Turkish short stories, poems, and plays into Urdu, Punjabi and English. He has 26 publications to his credit, the last being his own autobiography titled ‘Memoirs of A Lifetime.’ The Government of Pakistan recognized his services in the field of literature by awarding him Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in 2006.

Colnel (r) Shaikh was laid to rest in the H-8 graveyard. The deceased leaves behind six daughters and a son Tariq Masud Shaikh, who lives in the US.