MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 31: A well-known Kashmir journalist, political activist and special adviser to the AJK prime minister on media, political affairs and Kashmir Liberation Cell, Khwaja Abdus Samad Wani, passed away here in the wee hours of Monday. He was 66.

Family sources said he developed serious chest pain at midnight and was rushed to the Combined Military Hospital where he died at about 3.45am following a severe heart attack.

Mr Wani was the owner-editor of weekly Kasheer, which is being published regularly for the last 35 years and is popular not only on both sides of the Line of Control but also among the Kashmiris settled around the world. In 1986, he also launched the English language weekly Azad Kashmir, which is also appearing regularly.

He was permanent member of the APNS and the CPNE and had also been elected member of the executive council of the two organizations several times.

Besides, Mr Wani was one of the leading Muslim Conference leaders and a staunch advocate of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan.

Born in Safapur village of Baramullah district on Oct 2, 1935, he was arrested for the first time in 1950 for demonstrating against India and in favour of Pakistan on the visit of Sir Ovan Dixon to occupied Kashmir. He was detained at Kothi Bagh police station in Srinagar for one month. Following his release, he crossed the Line of Control in August 1950 and got settled in Rawalpindi.

Mr Wani enjoyed personal relations with Muslim as well as Hindu leaders, high ranking government servants, journalists and opinion builders in both parts of the divided state and was regarded as an authority on history, geography, culture, traditions, languages and political movements of Kashmir. He was also popular among the Mujahideen groups fighting for Kashmir’s freedom from India.

Although Mr Wani was the confidant of Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas and held key positions in Muslim Conference, he never accepted any government office over the past five decades; and it was for the first time when he agreed to join the government on the insistence of Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan and Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan and was appointed as special adviser to prime minister on media, political affairs and Kashmir Liberation Cell on Sept 1, 2001.

His funeral prayers were offered in Muzaffarabad at 9.30am and were attended by a large number of people, including prime minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat. His coffin was draped in the AJK flag. The AJK government declared a holiday in the capital on Monday to mourn his death. Mr Wani is survived by his wife, three sons and a married daughter.