Senior journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik, whose meeting with Hafiz Saeed in 2014 sparked row, passes away

Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidik, a senior journalist, passed away on Tuesday morning. He was 78 years old. The 78-year-old man reportedly fell in his bathroom at home and was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Gurugram.

Vaidik traveled to Pakistan in 2014 to interview the mastermind of the 26/11 terrorist attack, Hafiz Saeed. His visit had created a lot of controversies and the issue was also raised in Parliament.

Vaidik met terrorist Hafiz Saeed on July 2, 2014 on a tour to Pakistan. He was accompanied by a group of journalists and politicians invited by a peace research institute. He was considered close to yoga guru Baba Ramdev.

Defdending his meeting with Hafiz Saeed, Vaidik had then said he met him as a "journalist must meet all kinds of people."

Founding editor of PTI Bhasha

Ved Pratap Vaidik was the founding editor of Press Trust of India's Hindi news publication Bhasha and a well-known columnist as well as a political analyst.

He enrolled at Columbia University, where he studied and investigated Afghan international affairs. He also had degrees from Moscow's Institute of People of Asia and London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

Vaidik was the chairman of Bharatiya Bhasha Sammelan and the Council for Indian Foreign Policy.

Published on: Tuesday, March 14, 2023, 12:43 PM IST