LAHORE: Renowned calligrapher Khurshid Alam Gohar Qalam passed away here on Monday. He was 64.

He breathed his last at the Shaikh Zayed Hospital after suffering from liver and stomach complications.

Gohar Qalam was born in Sargodha district in 1956 and got education at Bhera and Lahore.

He learnt calligraphy from Hafiz Muhammad Yousaf Sadidi and was given the title of Gohar Qalam for his excellence in the art of calligraphy. He received the Pride of Performance Award in 1991.

His works are displayed at Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Data Ganj Bakhsh shrine in Lahore and London Museum.

Gohar Qalam taught calligraphy at the National College of Arts (NCA) for many years.

He was a part of faculty at the Institute of Art of Culture (IAC) in Lahore. He was the author more than 28 books on the art of calligraphy.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2020