Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) leader and former senator Usman Khan Kakar passed away in Karachi on Monday. He was 60.

Kakar's personal physician, Dr Samad Panezai, while talking to Dawn.com, said he had received a head injury at his residence in Quetta and was shifted to a hospital within 30 minutes where he was operated upon and put on a ventilator.

He was later shifted to Karachi's Aga Khan University Hospital on a special air ambulance where he passed away earlier today. Panezai said the cause of his death was accumulation of blood in his brain due to the injury.

Panezai said it was not known what caused the injury to Kakar, who had been found by his family lying on a carpet in his drawing room with blood flowing from his head.

He said Kakar's body was being shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal formalities and his funeral would be offered in Karachi, after which he would be shifted to his hometown, Quetta, which will be his final resting place.

Kakar was elected to the Upper House in March 2015 and remained a vocal senator till his tenure ended in March 2021.

Condolences poured in from leaders across the political spectrum after the news of his demise.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz praised him as a "a strong voice of democracy and a front line soldier of the struggle for civilian supremacy". She added she would always remember her conversations with him and the memory of his struggle would be kept alive.

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz said he was "deeply saddened" by Kakar's sudden demise. He said Kakar had been a "dear friend" whose services for democracy and politics will be remembered forever.

PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal also remembered him as "a man with integrity, principles and a dedicated democrat."

"PML-N stands with his family & party at this time of grief & sorrow."

Meanwhile, MNA Mohsin Dawar said it was "a devastating realisation that our beloved Usman Kakar is no more", adding that his death had left a vacuum which would be difficult to fill.

Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister Murtaza Wahab also expressed his condolences on Kakar's death. "Usman Kakar was a strong voice for democracy," he said, adding that the country had lost a democratic politician.