MUZAFFARABAD: For­mer president and prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Khan passed away on Friday after protracted illness. He was 91.

Given the epithet Mujahid-i-Avval (the first freedom fighter) by his admirers, Sardar Qayyum died in Islamabad, where he had been hospitalised after deterioration of his health.

The AJK government declared three-day mourning over the death of the veteran Kashmiri leader.

He was supreme head of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, the oldest and once the largest political party of the region.

Sardar Qayyum’s funeral prayers were offered in Islamabad in the afternoon. Led by Pir Syed Allauddin of Nairiyan Sharif, the funeral were attended by a large number of people, including AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, federal Minister Barjees Tahir, the Parliament’s Kashmir Committee Chairman Maulana Fazlur Rehman, AJK leaders, members of cabinet and civil and military officials.

Funeral prayers will also be offered in his Ghaziabad, his ancestral village, before his burial on Saturday.

Ghaziabad, in Bagh district, is some 50 kilometres south of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir.

Condolences poured in from across Pakistan and AJK over the death of a leader who had not restricted himself to Kashmir politics.

“He was an epochal personality and in his death stands closed a chapter of the freedom movement,” the AJK prime minister said in his message.

The Muttehida Jihad Council’s leader Syed Salahuddin said Sardar Qayyum had played an unforgettable role in the Kashmir liberation movement “which will be written in letters of gold. He also played a key role in political and economic empowerment of Azad Kashmir”.

According to APP, the funeral prayers in Ghaziabad will be offered at 11am and the AJK government has declared a holiday for the day.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2015

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