Opposition Leader in Azad Kashmir Ishaque Zafar Dies
Pakistan Times' Staff Report

MUZAFFARABAD (AJK): The opposition leader in the AJK Legislative Assembly Sahibzada Muhammad Ishaque Zafar died of cardiac arrest in Rawalpindi on Saturday.

According to his family sources, he was at the residence of his daughter at Rawalpindi when he suffered severe heart attack.

He was rushed to Military Hospital (MH) Rawalpindi but he could not survive. He breathed his last at the hospital about 4.55 pm, they added.

It is to mention here that Mohammad Ishaq Zafar also suffered a heart attack during his election campaign in the AJK general elections but recovered and later took active part in the electoral process.

He was a teacher turned politician as he started his carrier as a school teacher and later joined politics in 1974.

One of his nephews told 'Pakistan Times' [Daily Web Newspaper] that he was 62 year old and was born on September 12, 1944.

He was elected as Speaker of the AJK Legislative Assembly in 1990 in the Pakistan People’s party Azad Kashmir Government led by the then late Prime Minister Raja Mumtaz Hussain Rathore for about one year and also remained as AJK Acting President during his tenure as Speaker.

Later he became Senior Minister in PPP government led by then Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry from 1996 to 2001.

He was elected as MLA in 1974 for the first time on PPP ticket. In the recently held elections he was elected for the fifth time as member in the AJK Legislative Assembly.

He was made President Pakistan People’s Party Azad Kashmir Chapter in 2005 and remained on this slot for one year.

In the July 11 AJK polls, he was elected as member of the Legislative Assembly from his native constituency Muzaffarabad-5 and later elected as the opposition leader.

He was M.A, LL.B and has been a practicing lawyers in the AJK Bar.

He was considered as a moderate and soft politician and was popular in his constituency because of his own efforts and family background in the area.

His funeral prayers was held at Haitian Bala on Sunday and later he was laid to rest at his native town Banni Hafiz in Haitian sub division district Muzaffarabad.●