Famous People of Peshawar

Peshawar is an amazing land that is filled with beautiful spots and many historic memories. There are many fascinating places which are still in a good condition and attract a huge crowd towards their charm. Alongside the picnic spots there are many famous people who belong to this land. Some have passed away while struggling for Pakistan and some are still present to increase the splendor of Pakistan. Let’s discuss some famous personalities of Pakistan:

Riaz Afridi

Riaz Afridi, who belonged to Peshawar, started his career from his tour to Sri Lanka along with the National under-19 team in 2001. He was considered the best bowler of the tournament by taking 19 wickets in 7 under-19 world cup matches that were held in Bangladesh during 2003. On 28^th October 2004, he reviewed the first test match against Sri Lanka. In 2005, he won the award of “Player of the Year '' by taking 72 wickets in only 11 matches in first class cricket. In the senior inter district tournament held in 2010, he led his district to victory in the tournament with the sensibility of Peshawar’s captain. In the same year, he played 8 matches for Peshawar district and topped again in the first class cricket with 50 wickets and 480 runs, but surprisingly he was not allowed to play for Peshawar in 2011. But overall his performance describes that he was one of the best and most capable cricketers of Peshawar.

Shahid Afridi

If we overview the pages of the past, there were many famous cricketers in Peshawar who were famous for their struggles in their field but the most famous cricketer there is Shahid Afridi. He earned a huge respect in 20 years of his career. He was born on 1^st March 1980 in one of the rural areas of Peshawar. His full name is Muhammad Shahid khan Afridi, who is famous as “boom boom” and “Lala” in cricket grounds. He is considered as the all time successful cricketer of Pakistan who bats with left hand while bowling with right hand. The one played against Kenya on 12^th October 1996 was a player who became famous in industry when he made a century on 37 balls while playing against Sri Lanka and jerked the world’s cricket teams with his success.

He had played 27 test matches, 389 ODI matches and 82 T20 matches in his complete career. He also had scored 5 test centuries, 6 ODI centuries and 4 T20 50’s in his successful career over international level. In March 2014, he set up a charity under his own name “Shahid Afridi Foundation”, which is still struggling for health and education in Pakistan.

He is considered the most beautiful cricketer of the world and was awarded for his beauty by the Lux Style Awards in 2007, 2011 and 2016.

Samar Haroon Bilour

Samar Haroon Bilour was a female Pakistani member of the provincial assembly of KPK. She was elected in 2018 by the constituency PK-78 held in October, 2018. She was the first woman of KPK who became a politician in the last 16 years. Her husband and father In law became the victim to terrorism which forced her to join politics. After that she was also selected as a provincial secretary of Awami National Party of KPK in June 2020.

Rehman Baba

Everyone is familiar with the name of Pakhtun Shah Rehman Baba, whose shrine was bombed during the operations of Taliban militants. He was a Sufi Dervish and writer from Mohmand Agency of Peshawar, during the Mughal’s period. He is considered as the most mainstream writer and the ethnic Pakhtun and follows the culture of Peshawar. His verse communicates the enchanted side of Islam, in accordance with his Sufi-arranged nature.

Jansher Khan

Jansher Khan was born on 15 June, 1969, in Peshawar. His father was a store-keeper on payroll of Pakistan air force. He started playing squash at the age of 11. At 16, he won the world’s junior championship for the first time in 1986 and after that again in 1988.between these two titles, he won the “World Open '' title in 1987. At 18, he beat the world’s no.1 squash player “Jahangir Khan'' in Hong Kong. He was awarded “Pride of Performance '' in 1988. Jansher was famous for his lighting, quick reflexes and movement around the court. He won 99 professional titles, highest of all the players of squash. He was considered the world’s no.1 squash player for more than 10 continuous years. In 1993, he was awarded “Sitara-e-Imtiaz” by the Pakistan Government, and was awarded “Hilal-e-Imtiaz '' in 1997. He officially announced his retirement from Squash in 2001.

Abdul Rub Nishtar

The reliable companion of Quaid e Azam and the hero of Pakistan movement, Abdul Rub Nishtar, spent his life through thick and thin. He had been the planner of Kala Bagh Dam and the former governor of Punjab.

He was actually born in Peshawar in the house of Abdul Halal Kakar. He completed his early education from mission high school, Namak Mandi, Peshawar. Onwards, he completed graduation from Adward College. He had a great interest in poetry from his childhood. In 1922, he created a literary council along with some of his companions and named it as “Muslim Literary Society”. A member of Imran Khan’s Cabinet, Doctor Sania Nishtar, is grand-daughter of Abdul Rub Nishtar.

In 1929, when the elections for Peshawar Municipal Community were held in Peshawar, he was elected as its member for the very first time. Even after independence, he had made countless efforts to benefit Pakistan and participated in the development of Pakistan.

Other Famous Personalities

There are many other famous personalities who have had a good time in Peshawar and there are still many who are adding to the glory of Peshawar. Some of the famous ones are Iftikhar Ahmed (cricketer), Umer Gul (cricketer), Arshad Khan (cricketer), Yasir Hamid (cricketer), Amir Atlas Khan (squash player), Hashim Khan (squash player), Jahangir Khan (squash player), Kabir Khan (cricketer), Mohammad Rizwan (cricketer), Qamar Zaman(squash player), Wajahatullah Wasti(cricketer), FarhatUllah Babar(speaker of Pakistan Peoples’ Party), Bashir Ahmad Bilour(Senior minister of Provincial Assembly), Bhim Sen. Sachar (Indian Politician), Yahiya Khan(Commander in Chief of Pak Army), Patras Bukhari(Poet), Ismail Shahid (Pashto Comedian and actor), Ayman Udas (singer and songwriter), Sajid Ghafur (musician), RahimUllah Yusufzai(Journalist), F.C. Kohli(Father of Indian IT industry) and Kuku Kohli (Bollywood Director).

The famous actor of the world’s second largest film industry “Bollywood”, and the millions of heartbeats, “Shah-Rukh Khan” had a background of Peshawar. His native family belonged to Peshawar. In addition, the Kapur Family, who ruled the Indian film industry, also hails from the same era. In the past decades, the family of Dilip Kumar, the one who ruled the days of  beauty in the subcontinent, also belongs to the same region.