Prominent Kashmiri figure, Syed Javed Hamdani was laid to eternal rest at Shah Qaf graveyard near IGP road Rawalpindi on Tuesday.
Hamdani breathed his last at a local hospital in Rawalpindi late night. He was 82.
The funeral prayers of the deceased were attended by a large number of people hailing from different walks of life. Besides the members of local community a large number of Kashmiris settled in twin cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad attended the funeral prayers.
Prominent Hurriyat leaders including Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar, Mir Tahir Masood, Syed Yousuf Naseem, Saleem Haroon, Hassan-ul-Banna, Altaf Hussain Wani, Altaf Bhat, Manzoor-ul-Haq Bhat, Sheikh Tajamulul Islam Executive Director Kashmir Media Service and others took part in the funeral prayers, which were led by a local cleric.
Speaker Legislative Assembly Shah Ghulam Qadir was also present on the occasion. Fateha Khawani for the departed soul will be held tomorrow at Satellite Town Rawalpindi.
Shah has been very popular in Kashmiri circles owing to his immense hospitable nature. He was a loving and caring person.
“His trait of welcoming visitors/guests with a broad smile at his face always gave them a sense of belonging and affinity. This was perhaps the reason that he was most popular among the new lot of Kashmiris who migrated from Kashmir after 1990 and settled in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad,” said a mourner.
His home at Satellite Town and Printing Press office at Sadar Rawalpindi have been abode for Kashmiri migrants. Shah was one amongst handful Kashmiri migrants who had developed good relations with post-90 Kashmiri migrants and was seen often visiting their families on important occasions.
“It was his love for his birthplace that compelled him to windup his business and move back to Srinagar the birthplace, which he had left at the tender age of 15. Some 12 years back Shah took the toughest decision of his 60-year life, sold out his house, printing press and other immovable assets and decided to live rest of his life in Srinagar along with his near and dear ones but after spending a couple of years there the unavoidable circumstances in the valley forced him to reverse the decision and ultimately he had to come back to Rawalpindi,” said a family friend.
“Since then Shah has been living in a rented house in the garrison city. He had lived a good life, although last years of his life were a bit crucial but his close friends with whom he had shared the joys moments stayed alongside him till the last breath of his life.”
It is worth to mention here that Syed Javed along with his friends migrated to Pakistan from Srinagar in 1948.
His father who came in search of his son also died in Pakistan’s port city Karachi.
During early years of his migration, Syed Javed visited Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and other cities where he worked very hard to earn an honourable livelihood and achieve honourable status in the society.
Having witnessed many ups and downs at the earlier stage he finally succeeded in establishing his own business in Rawalpindi.
After setting up Shoukat Art Press in Sadr area of the garrison city, he was popularly known as Javed Press.
He was a committed disciple of Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir Moulana Muhammad Yousuf Shah.
He also had the honour to share the company of KH Khursheed, the close confidante of Pakistan’s founding father Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, JKLF founder late Ammanullah Khan and other prominent political personalities of that time.
Meanwhile, the DFP vice president Mehmood Ahmed Saghar expressed deep sense of shock over the demise of Syed Javed and extended his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.