Pro-talks Kashmiri separatist Abdul Gani Bhat dies at 89

SRINAGAR: J&K separatist leader, academic and former chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Prof Abdul Gani Bhat died Wednesday evening at his home in north Kashmir’s Sopore. He was 89.

Born in 1935 in Sopore, Bhat studied Persian, economics and political science at Srinagar’s Sri Pratap College before earning a postgraduate degree in Persian and law from Aligarh Muslim University. He taught Persian for 22 years before stepping into politics, co-founding Muslim United Front in 1986 and later becoming chairman of Hurriyat Conference, an amalgam of separatist groups formed in 1993.

Long identified with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led faction of Hurriyat, he was among the separatists who broke ground by holding direct talks with Union govt in the early 2000s. In Jan 2004, he joined Mirwaiz and others in meeting then deputy PM LK Advani in New Delhi, followed by a separate meeting with PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was also part of Hurriyat delegations that met PM Manmohan Singh in 2005 and 2006.

After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, Bhat urged restraint, saying that “there should be no war between India and Pakistan”.

Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq called his death “a huge personal loss”. CM Omar Abdullah wrote on X: “Our political ideologies were poles apart but I will always remember him as a very civil person… he had the courage to espouse the cause of dialogue when many believed violence was the only way forward.”

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti described him as “a voice of moderation amidst the tumultuous history of Kashmir…” CPM’s MY Tarigami remembered him as “an eminent figure in J&K’s political landscape”, while Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone recalled him as “a literary figure too apart from politics”.
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