New Delhi: Â Noted writer and journalist Khushwant Singh dies at 99.
One of India’s best known writers, Khushwant Singh was famous for his acid wit and liberal political views. His son Rahul Singh said he passed away peacefully at his home in Sujan Singh Park in Delhi.
Born on February 2 in Hadali, now in Pakistan’s Punjab, he was the founder-editor of Yojana and editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, the National Herald and The Hindustan Times.Â
He wrote classics like A Train to Pakistan, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale and Delhi.Â
At 95, he wrote the novel The Sunset Club. His non-fiction works include the classic two-volume A History of the Sikhs, a number of translations and works on Sikh religion and culture, Delhi, nature, current affairs and Urdu poetry.Â
Singh was a Member of Parliament from 1980 to 1986. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 but returned it in 1984, in protest against the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by the Indian Army. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan.