New Delhi, Aug 23 (IT): Veteran journalist and former Rajya Sabha member Kuldeep Nayar died late last night in New Delhi. He was 95.

His last rites will be performed at 1 pm today at the Lodhi Road crematorium.

Nayar also served as India's High Commissioner for the United Kingdom.

A veteran journalist, diplomat, parliamentarian and an author, Nayar wore many hats in his decades of public life.

He was born in 1924 in Sialkot, Punjab, and moved to India after Partition.

In his long carrier, he served as the press information officers to former Prime Minister Lal bahadur Shashtri and former veteran Congress leader and Union Home Minister Govind Ballabh Pant.

As a journalist he worked with a range of news agencies and media organisation in India and was also the correspondent of The Times, London, for more than two decades.

He wrote over a dozen books, and is best known for 'Between the Lines', 'Scoop! - Inside stories from Partition to the present', 'Distant Neighbours: A tale of the Subcontinent', among others.

Ever since the news of his death broke out, tributes have started pouring in for him.

Noted author and historian Ramachandra Guha said Nayar was a journalist "who followed the dictates of his conscience rather than the lure of money or fame".

Speaking about his role during the Emergency unleashed by Inidra gandhim Guha said his courage during the Emergency shines.

"Nayar was not a prose stylist, and prone to the odd conspiracy theory, yet his commitment to interfaith harmony, his professional commitment and integrity, and his courage during the Emergency absolutely shine,"he wrote on Twitter.

Senior journalist Sheela Bhatt remembered Nayar as a "mentor of scores of journalists and editors".