NEW DELHI: Former Hurriyat chairman and advocate of India-Pakistan talks to resolve the Kashmir dispute, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, passed away in Sopore on Wednesday. He was 89.

According to family members, Bhat had been unwell recently and “passed away peacefully at his residence”. Official sources said the administration suggested that the family “conclude the final rites by Wednesday night”.

Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other colleagues from Srinagar were not allowed to visit Sopore, The Hindu said.

Bhat, who readily quoted from classical Persian poets to describe every crisis and its resolution, was among the few leaders in occupied Kashmir whose political career arc spanned from mainstream electoral politics to seeking a final settlement to the Kashmir problem.

Having quit his government job as a Persian professor to join politics, he co-founded the Muslim United Front (MUF), which contested the 1987 election. He later became chairman of the Hurriyat, an amalgam of at least 13 anti-India groups, in the 1990s, and steered Kashmiri politics for many years.

Favoured talks with Islamabad

A staunch advocate of talks on Kashmir with both Delhi and Islamabad, Bhat was among the few Kashmiri leaders who publicly met then-deputy prime minister and BJP leader L.K. Advani in 2004 and clicked pictures with him.

He earned both criticism and praise for his statements made after meeting Mr Advani. “The peace process should proceed step by step. Guns should be replaced by political talks,” Bhat said after the talks.

He kept engaging Pakistani and Indian interlocutors to push for structured talks on Kashmir.

Termed UN resolutions ‘inapplicable’

In 2017, Bhat was removed as the Muslim Conference president for meeting Delhi’s special representative Dineshwar Sharma and expressing his willingness to talk to New Delhi.

He had previously faced severe criticism from Hurriyat leaders in 2012 for saying that “United Nations resolutions on Kashmir were inapplicable and the time has come to chart out a common minimum programme with the mainstream parties”.

He was also among the few leaders who maintained a healthy relationship with mainstream leaders like Peo­p­les Democratic Party (PDP) founder Mufti Sayeed.

Bhat was a close associate and aide of Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

“I lost an affectionate elder, a dear friend and colleague. A huge personal loss. Kashmir has lost one of its sincere and visionary leaders,” the Mirwaiz said.

Expressing her condolences, PDP president Mehb­ooba Mufti said: “I am deeply saddened. He was a voice of moderation amidst the tumultuous history of Kashmir, an esteemed scholar, teacher, and intellectual with a pragmatic approach to politics.

National Conference vice president and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he was “saddened to hear about the demise of senior Kashmiri political leader and academician Professor Abdul Ghani Bhat Sb”.

“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 and this resulted in him meeting the then PM Vajpayee ji and Deputy PM Advani ji. May Bhat sb find a place in Jannat,” Mr Abdullah said.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2025