MUZAFFARABAD: Veteran Kashmiri leader Chaudhry Noor Hussain, who passed away of protracted illness on Sunday, was buried in his ancestral Chechiyan village on the outskirts of Mirpur in the afternoon.

Mr Hussain was the father of former AJK prime minister and Peoples Party AJK leader Barrister Sultan Mahmood. He was around 96 years old.

His funeral were attended by a large number of people, including AJK President Sardar Yaqoob Khan, Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, cabinet members and leaders and representatives of other political, religious and social parties.

The AJK government announced three-day mourning on the death of Mr Hussain, and declared Monday as a holiday. AJK flag would fly at half-mast during these three days.

Mr Hussain, who started his political career at the age of 16, was among those leaders who had signed All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference resolution on July 19, 1947 at the Srinagar residence of Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan (later the founding president of AJK).

In 1952, he was appointed as education minister in the cabinet of AJK President Col Sher Ahmed along with Chaudhry Hamidullah, Sardar Abdul Qayyum, and Pir Ziauddin, a post he held over the next two years.

In 1970, he launched his own party, Azad Muslim Conference, which his son merged with Liberation League in the early 90s.

Mr Hussain himself returned to Legislative Assembly from LA-III Mirpur-III in 1975, and was appointed adviser to the AJK Council chairman – the prime minister of Pakistan.

However, in 1985, he fielded his son, Sultan Mahmood, from this constituency, who has ever since clinched victory in all but one of seven general elections.