RAWALPINDI, Sep 2: Leader of the opposition in the AJK Legislative Assembly Sahibzada Ishaq Zafar died of a heart attack here on Saturday evening. He was 63. He was at the residence of his daughter in Gulzar-e-Quaid when he suffered the heart attack. He was taken to a hospital but breathed his last on the way.

His body was taken to Muzaffarabad where he will be laid to rest today (Sunday).

Ishaq Zafar has a long political career. He never lost an election from his constituency and had the distinction of becoming member of the AJK Legislative Assembly in 1975, 1990, 1996, 2001 and 2006.

He had not contested the election in 1985 as his party had boycotted the polls. He also did not contest elections in 1991 after the then Prime Minister Mumtaz Hussain Rathore dissolved the assembly.

He served as speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 1991.

He became acting president after the then president of Azad Kashmir Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan resigned to contest Legislative Assembly elections.

He served as the senior minister in the cabinet of Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry in 1996-2001.

Ishaq Zafar was made the President of PPP AJK in September 2004. He was replaced as party chief by Chaudhry Majeed before the recent polls in which he was party candidate for the slot of prime minister.