Condolences pour in across party lines after former J-K minister Mustafa Kamal's death

Srinagar, Jul 15 (PTI) Cutting across political lines, a host of leaders on Wednesday visited the family of National Conference leader and former minister Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, who passed away a day earlier after prolonged illness. Kamal, the younger brother of National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah, and uncle of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, died at a private hospital here on Tuesday evening and was later laid to rest at a graveyard in Sonwar area of the city. While the Abdullahs arrived at Kamal's residence near the M A Road here in the morning, a host of other leaders also visited the residence and expressed condolences to the family. Leaders from other political parties, cutting across ideological lines, also visited to express their sympathies. BJP leader and MLA from Jammu's Bahu assembly constituency Vikram Randhawa, PDP MLA Aga Muntazir, senior leaders of Apni Party Rafi Mir and Dilawar Mir, former Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Saifuddin Soz and People's Democratic Front (PDF) president Hakeem Yaseen were among those who paid a condolence visit. Senior NC leaders, including ministers, MPs and MLAs also visited the family. Meanwhile, the Grand Mufti of Kashmir, Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam, also visited Kamal's residence to express his condolences. Speaking to reporters outside his uncle's residence, the chief minister said it was a very difficult time for the family and the party. "Apart from being the younger brother of my father, Kamal had his own standing. He was an able doctor who played a role in the treatment of poor patients all his life. Even when he was the health minister of Jammu and Kashmir, he did not close his free clinic in Tangmarg and continued with it, visiting there every week and treating the poor in the area," he said. Reflecting on the departed leader's political career, Abdullah said Kamal first became an MLC, and then an MLA in 1986. In 1997, Kamal was re-elected from Tangmarg constituency, then through by-elections twice from Pattan, and in 2009 from Hazratbal, he said. Abdullah said Kamal touched the lives of a lot of people in Kashmir throughout his life. "Such a huge number of people gathering here tells you that Kamal touched many people in his life, which we realise and we are thankful for that," the chief minister added. PTI SSB PRK