MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 5: Mohammad Munir Awan, a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly, belonging to the People’s Party died after his vehicle fell several hundred feet down a narrow hilly road near here on Sunday, police and party leaders said.

The accident occurred at 4:30pm immediately after Mr Awan started his vehicle, a soft-top jeep, which he had parked on the edge of the narrow hilly road in Kerla village. As he switched on the ignition, the vehicle went out of his control, plunging about 1,000 yards down into the fields, superintendent of police Raja Ghulam Sarwar told Dawn.

The SP said Mr Awan was returning by foot from Doda village where he had gone to offer Fateha with the relatives of a deceased party man.

Those accompanying him rushed to the place where the vehicle had hit the ground and crushed, the SP said, adding that the critically wounded legislator was brought to a hospital in Garhi Dopatta where he died of wounds.

Mr Awan, who was in hid mid-forties, had been elected from LA 28 Muzaffarabad-VI in last year’s elections. He had also been an MLA in 1990, also on the People’s Party ticket. He had recently visited United States, Canada and the UK as a member of the parliamentary delegation to highlight Kashmir cause.