MUZAFFARABAD: A day after the death of its vice president, People’s Party Azad Jammu and Kashmir (PPAJK) suffered another tragedy as its senior leader and thrice elected lawmaker Sardar Ghulam Sadiq also passed away on Tuesday.

Mr Sadiq, who was elected fromLA-18 Poonch-II in three consecutive general elections in 2001, 2006 and 2011, had remained adviser to the chairperson AJK Council fromNov 30, 2008 to July 4, 2011, and Legislative Assembly Speaker from July 25, 2011 to July 30, 2016.

He had however lost the July 2016 polls to PML-N candidate Khan Bahadur Khan. After the death of Mr Khan of protracted illness in August 2018, Mr Sadiq contested the by-poll in Oct the same year but lost to Mr Khan’s grandson, Aamer Altaf, the sitting deputy speaker.

According to PPAJK President Chaudhry Latif Akbar, Mr Sadiq had been suffering from renal problem for the past two years. Though lately he was also affected by Covid-19, he was hospitalised in Islamabad about a week ago due to aggravation of the renal problem.

He breathed his last at 10am on Tuesday. His funeral prayers would be offered in his ancestral town of Hajira at 2pm on Wednesday, following which he would be laid to rest in a local graveyard, Mr Akbar said.

“I am literally devastated by the death of my two great colleagues in less than 30 hours,” said the PPAJK president of Mr Sadiq and party’s vice president Matloob Inqilabi who had died on Monday due to a head injury.

“They were our party’s asset and had made great contributions to the supremacy of democratic and parliamentary traditions in the state [AJK],” he added.Meanwhile, the AJK Legislative Assembly on Tuesday paid glowing tributes to the late leaders for their political and parliamentary services.

The house also offered fatiha for both leaders and also for a local journalist Attique Ahmed Gardezi who had died of cardiac arrest three days ago.

Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir announced one day mourning on Wednesday and prorogued the session till Thursday.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2020