New Delhi: Veteran Indian journalist Kuldip Nayar died at the age of 95 in New Delhi on Thursday morning following a brief illness.
Though a Punjabi, he was originally born in Sialkot in 1923.
Left-wing activist and peacenik, Nayar was the son-in-law of Bhim Sen Sachar, who once served as the Governor of Odisha.
He was interested in a peaceful relation between India and Pakistan. In his autobiography, ‘Beyond The Lines’, he wrote about his interview with Pakistan’s nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. He also revealed that Pakistan had a nuclear device well before the country was thought to have had it.
He was also the High Commissioner of India to the UK and nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.
Nayar was one of the first journalists to be put in jail during emergency.
His column ‘Between The Lines’ has been famous and near about 20 newspapers carried it.
He has covered several historical turn of events in the country , from the 1971 war with Pakistan to liberate Bangladesh to the Emergency of 1975.
His books include ‘Suppression of judges’, ‘India After Nehru’, ‘The Judgment:Inside story of the emergency in India’, ‘In Jail’, ‘Wall at Wagah – India Pakistan Relations’, ‘Scoop! : Inside Stories from Partition to the Present’ and many more.
Nayar is survived by his wife and two sons. The funeral will be conducted at 1 pm at the Lodhi Road crematorium in New Delhi.
