KARACHI: Renowned fiction writer, literary critic and academic, Dr Asif Farrukhi, passed away at the age of 60 in Karachi on Monday, Aaj News reported.

Farrukhi, a diabetic patient, had been unwell for the past few days, people close to him said. The details of his funeral and burial were not immediately available.

A public health physician by training, Farrukhi was the professor of practice, Arzu Programme for Languages and Literature, and the director of the Arzu Centre for Regional Languages and Humanities at Habib University.

"Habib University today has lost a key founding faculty member of its community, Dr Asif Aslam Farrukhi," the varsity said on Twitter.

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Recently, he did a video-blog series on reading and writing in the days of the pandemic. Farrukhi was also a founder member of the Karachi Literature Festival and contributed regularly to English-language press.

After completing his MBBS at the Dow Medical College, Karachi in 1984, Farrukhi obtained a Masters in Public Health with a concentration in International Health from Harvard University in 1988, according to his profile provided by Habib University.