Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik has expressed profound grief and sorrow over the demise of pro-freedom leader Riyaz Ahmad Dar, 61, in Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) following a cardiac arrest.
“Riyaz Dar breathed his last today. He left behind a widow and two sons. His parents had also migrated from Kashmir and were settled in Peshawar,” JKLF spokesman quoted Malik as having said in a statement.
The spokesman said that funeral prayers of the deceased were held in absentia at Lal Chowk on Tuesday afternoon.
Yasin Malik said, “Late Riyaz Dar was a close associate of the JKLF founder Muhammad Maqbool Butt who at the age of 16, came to Kashmir in 1976 along with Muhammad Maqbool Butt and JKLF senior vice chairman Abdul Hamid Butt and strived for Kashmir cause before being arrested by the forces at Langate, Kupwara. Both Hamid Butt and Riyaz Dar were released and pushed back in 1988 after serving a jail term for about 13 years. Both spent most of the time in Jammu jail during their incarceration. After his release Riyaz Dar got settled at Muzaffarabad, PaK where he breathed his last today.”
“Riyaz dedicated his youth for Kashmir and at a tender age of 16 travelled to the Valley to. He endeavored hardships but never budged before tyranny and stood firm for the cause,” Malik said while praying for the heavenly abode of the deceased and expressing condolences to the bereaved family.
The spokesman said that, JKLF senior vice chairman Abdul Hamid Butt along with chief spokesman Rafiq Ahmad Dar and deputy general secretary Sajid Sidiqi along with thousands of people participated in the funeral prayers of Riyaz Dar in Muzaffarabad.