ISLAMABAD - Qazi Wajid, one of Pakistan's veteran television actors and radio entertainers, has died in the southern port city of Karachi. He was 87.

Wajid was hospitalized on Saturday night for chest pain and died on Sunday.

Born in 1930 in the eastern city of Lahore, he started his carrier as radio drama artist and remained attached to the "sound box" until television was introduced in Pakistan in 1964. Wajid won a presidential medal for his achievement in the field of radio and television dramas in 1988.

In television dramas, Wajid performed a wide variety of characters, both comedians and serious. His colleagues referred to him as the "academy."

He is survived by his wife and a daughter. - AP