WASHINGTON: Dr Agha Saeed, a Pakistani-American scholar, an author and an expert on Kashmir and Palestine, passed away on Friday in Monterey, California, his family announced.

Dr Saeed, 73, was born in Quetta, and was a graduate of the Punjab University. He earned his MA and PhD from the University of California at Berkeley and was also an exchange scholar at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Dr Saeed was the founder and chairman of the American Muslim Alliance and the founding president of the Pakistan-American Democratic Forum.

He was also a founding coordinator of the American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections, a coordinator at California Civil Rights Alliance and the founding chair of the American Muslim Political Coordination Council.

He will be remembered by the Pakistani American community as a “soft-spoken” scholar who arranged seminars and talks shows across the United States to promote democratic values. He always encouraged American Muslims, particularly Pakistanis, to participate in the democratic process in the United States, instead of seeking political prominence back home.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2021