Who is who in Peshawar

Dr. Muhammad Zahir , born in 1978, belongs to a small village Abazai of the historic region of Charsadda (ancient Puskhalavati).  His family moved to Peshawar early in his life in order to provide better education opportunities to their offspring, so almost all of his early and undergraduate education was based at the historic city of Peshawar. He completed his Master of Arts degree in Archaeology from University of Peshawar in 2001 and was awarded the Gold Medal for securing the highest marks in the history of the Department of Archaeology since 1991 until 2013.  The provincial Public Service Commission of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province selected him as one of the youngest lecturers in 2002 in his province. He joined Hazara University, Mansehra – Pakistan, as lecturer in 2007 and has been working there since then. In 2008, he won a scholarship to pursue PhD degree at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. His PhD thesis, “ The Protohistoric Cemeteries of Northern and Northwest

Dr. Humayun Khan   is the Chairman of Institute of Rural Management. He was educated at the prestigious Bishop Cotton School in Simla, India and later at Edwardes College Peshawar and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He holds an honours degree and an MA from Cambridge University. He was called to the Bar from Lincoln’s Inn, London in 1954. Later, he earned another MA and a Doctorate from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He joined the then Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) in 1955 and served as Assistant Commissioner, Tank; Assistant Commissioner, Nowshera; Deputy Commissioner, Bannu; Political Agent, North Waziristan and Political Agent, Malakand. He was Home Secretary, NWFP in the NAP-JUI Government in 1972-73, after which he moved to the Pakistan Foreign Service. He served in the country’s missions in Moscow and the UNO at Geneva before he was appointed Ambassador to Bangladesh in 1979. In 1984 he became Ambassador to India and served there for four and a half y

When Zeek Afridi sang Bibi Sheerinay (‘Sweet Lady’ in Pashto) everyone from children to grown ups joined in the chorus. The song has not just become an anthem of the undying Pashto spirit, but its catchy beat has conquered the entire nation as well. Today, it’s a challenge just to catch up with the singer who has single handedly revived the wavering interest in Pashto music. From Tirah in Khyber   Agency in Fata, the good-looking and soft-spoken Zahid Khan Afridi, popularly known as plain and simple Zeek, has finally arrived on the Pashto music scene it seems. He is rightfully being touted these days as yet another success story from the NWFP. “I wanted to break the monotony prevailing in Pashto music. Music is a passion with me. As most Pakhtun youngsters had almost given up listening to Pashto songs, I wanted to bring them back to their cultural roots. I don’t want to make music my profession as sometimes adopting an art as a profession robs one of talent,” says Zeek. He al