ISLAMABAD: Renowned journalist, author, scholar, analyst and former bureaucrat Zahid Malik passed away here on Thursday at the age of 78.

Zahid Malik was born on October 5, 1937. He was founder, editor-in-chief and publisher of the English daily Pakistan Observer.

Mr Malik authored a dozen books, and over 2,000 articles and comments. He received a Writers Guild of Pakistan First Prize for his book 'Public Relations' which was first published in Urdu in 1971. Another of Mr Malik's works 'Mazameen-i-Quran-i-Hakeem' an 800-page subject-wise classification of verses of the Holy Quran was translated into English, French and German.

He also delivered over 100 lectures on various subjects to groups inside and outside Pakistan.

Mr Malik received a Sitara-i-Imtiaz on Aug 14, 2011 for his contributions towards journalism, the promotion of the ideology of Pakistan and writings about religion.

Mr Malik was patron-in-chief of the Nazaria-e-Pakistan Council, chairman of the International Seerat Centre and the Foundation for Coexistence of Civilizations. He was also the founder-chairman of the think tank '101 Friends of China', a non-governmental organisation aimed towards improving Pak-China ties.

He was conferred an honorary PhD in Philosophy at the 6th convocation of the Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education in Karachi on December 11, 2013.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow over Mr Malik's demise and paid a rich tribute to him for his efforts towards press freedom.