PML-N’s Irfan Siddiqui passes away

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Irfan Siddiqui passed away on Tuesday after receiving treatment at a local hospital in Islamabad for the past few days.

He was placed on a ventilator after his health condition deteriorated.

Aaj News quoted his family sources as saying that Senator Siddiqui had been unwell for several days, but his condition worsened suddenly, following which he was transferred to a hospital where doctors decided to place him on life support.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his condolences and said that Siddiqui rendered invaluable services for the cause of democracy in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed deep sorrow and grief over the senator’s passing and said that Pakistan had lost a serious thinker, teacher, and a principled intellectual.

“Irfan Siddiqui always centered his writings and personality around knowledge, tolerance, seriousness, and reason.”

“He was an important member of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and a close companion of ours,” said the PM.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also extended his condolences and praised Siddiqui as a “champion of high traditions in both journalism and politics”.