Afghan writer, poet and former politician, Suleiman Layeq, passed away at the age of 90 on Friday, according to his family.

His family said Layeq’s death was due to the wounds he received in an explosion in the Shash Darak area in downtown Kabul last year.   

Layeq was born in Paktika province and graduated from the literature school at Kabul University in  1957.  

He was a poet and writer in Pashto and Farsi. He held different posts in the Afghan media between  1957 to 1968.  

Layeq was the founder of the Parcham newspaper in  1968.   

He represented the moderate faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in the 1960s.  

After the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, Layeq was a member of the Central Committee of the Parcham faction of the PDPA, was promoted to lead the Academy of Sciences, held a full membership in the Afghan Politburo, and also was the Minister of Nationalities and Tribal Affairs. 

Recently, there were rumors on social media about Layeq’s death for over a month.   

Some of his books are Chunghar, De Abaseen Spaiday, Kaygday, and Qeesai Aw Afsanai.