Senior National Conference leader passes away

Srinagar: Senior National Conference (NC) leader and former speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Ali Mohammad Naik, passed away here at the age of 87.
Naik, a resident of Tral in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, was suffering from chest disease and breathed his last while being taken to a hospital on Friday night.
He was one of the many NC leaders and MLAs who toppled the Farooq Abdullah government in 1984 by allying with Ghulam Mohammad Shah and became revenue minister in Shah’s cabinet. However, he later returned to the NC and was elected speaker of the Assembly in 1996.
In 1999, he defeated former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag constituency of South Kashmir. Naik was badly injured in a militant attack in 2006. He is survived by two sons.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti extended her condolences to the bereaved family.
Expressing grief and sorrow over Naik’s demise, NC president Farooq Abdullah and working president Omar Abdullah also extended condolences to the bereaved family.
Omar said the party had lost an honest, virtuous and visionary leader in Naik. (PTI)