Pashto actor, academician Ziaul Qamar passes away

Former students eulogise the Edwardes College teacher

PESHAWAR: Pashto actor and English Literature professor Syed Ziaul Qamar passed away on Thursday night.

His funeral prayers were offered at his ancestral village in Azakhel Bala, Nowshera on Friday.

His ailment had limited his mobility and eyesight for the last few of years of his life.



Prof Qamar had taught English Literature at Edwardes College for over 40 years. He had been appointed as a lecturer at the college in 1964 after completing his masters from the University of Peshawar.

“The great man [Prof Qamar] finally took his last breath, with prayers and tears, we mourn the loss of a soul who passed a happy sojourn through the odyssey of life,” wrote a former pupil Masaud Khan on Facebook.

Ali Gauhar, another pupil of the late professor recalled, “He was the best teacher I have ever come across.”

“Late professor Qamar will always be remembered as one of the prominent torch bearers in the pitch black darkness of illiteracy surrounding K-P,” expressed Israr Khan, a research scholar In the US in a eulogizing Facebook post.

Qamar had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and passed away at the ICU of the NWTH in Peshawar at around 9:30 pm on Thursday evening.



Acting career

Apart from his academic exploits, Prof Qamar used to act. He had an active association with the Pakistan Television centre in Peshawar.

He worked in some of PTV’s memorable Pastho drama serials such as Pashto Khobona.

He is also credited with bringing famous Pashto singer Haroon Bacha to PTV, who was at the time studying at the Edwards Colleges.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2017.