Mirwaiz bereaved; aunt dies in Pakistan

Srinagar, Feb 24 (UNI) The aunt of moderate Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has died at Islamabad in Pakistan after a prolonged illness last night.

The Mirwaiz told UNI that she was about 67 years of age and is survived by two children.

She was married to Moulvi Mohammad Ahmed, the son of revered religious leader of Kashmir Moulvi Mohammad Yousuf Shah who had left the Valley for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 1947 and lived in exile there till his death in 1968.

The deceased was elder to assassinated Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq, the father of the Hurriyat Chairman.

''It is an irony of the vexed Kashmir issue that she got married in 1946 and had to leave the Valley to live in exile on the other side of the Line of Control. She was unable to visit this side after that and could not even come at the time of my father's death,'' the Mirwaiz said.

The deceased had later shifted to Islamabad from Muzaffarabad.

The bereaved Hurriyat Chairman did not deliver the regular Friday sermon at the historic Jama Masjid here today.

During his visit to Pakistan and PoK in the June two cross-border bus, the Hurriyat Chairman had visited the mausoleum of his grandfather at Muzaffarabad.

Several separatist, political, social and other organisations have offered condolences and heart-felt sympathies to the Mirwaiz.

UNI AG MSJ PC1723