PESHAWAR, Feb 4: Qalandar Momand, progressive  poet, journalist,  trade unionist, teacher and linguist, died  here on Tuesday. He was 73.

Mr Momand was editor of the daily Shahbaz, the official organ of the defunct National Awami Party (NAP), and chief editor of the daily Anjam. He started his journalistic carrier in Karachi early in the sixties.

He was imprisoned several times for his radical views. Momand was detained in a cell at Lahore Fort next to that of Hasan Nasir, secretary-general of the Communist Party of Pakistan, and was the sole witness to the latter’s death by torture during the Ayub dictatorship.

Mr Momand was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz by the Benazir Bhutto government.

He had to his credit a collection of poetry, Sabaoon, a collection of short stories and a commentary on Pashto literature. He had also compiled a dictionary of the Pashto language.

Momand was principal of the law college, and founding president of the Peshawar Press Club. He was president of the Khyber Union of Journalists for various tenures.

He is survived by two sons, Jalawan Momand and Zalan Momand, and a daughter, Durre Nayab Sahibzadah, all three of whom are journalists.