إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ

Bureau Report

Muzaffarabad: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry died in Islamabad on Saturday after a prolonged illness. He was 71.

His funeral prayers will be offered on Sunday at 3.00 p.m. in his native village of Chichian, Mirpur, according to family sources.

Born on August 9, 1955, in Chichian, Mirpur, Barrister Chaudhry received his early education in his hometown, completed matriculation from Cantt Public School Rawalpindi and graduated from Gordon College Rawalpindi.

He later moved to the United Kingdom, where he earned a Bar-at-Law degree from Lincoln’s Inn. He returned to Pakistan in 1983 and entered active politics.

Barrister Chaudhry served in several key political roles over a decades-long career.

He was deputy opposition leader in the AJK Legislative Assembly alongside former AJK president K.H. Khurshid.

In 1990, he was selected for the office of AJK president but could not assume the post due to being under the required age by one month.

He was later elected AJK prime minister in 1996 and served as opposition leader in the legislative assembly in 2001.

He was elected nine times as a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly from his native Mirpur constituency.

Over the years, he also headed several major political parties in AJK, including the AJK Muslim Conference, AJK Liberation League, Pakistan Peoples Party AJK, and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf AJK.

He was elected President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in 2021.

Barrister Chaudhry was widely regarded as one of the most prominent international voices for the Kashmiri right to self-determination.

He raised the Kashmir issue at global forums, including the United Nations and the US State Department, and addressed parliaments in several countries.

He also led large-scale demonstrations in support of Kashmir at London’s Trafalgar Square, outside the UN headquarters in New York, in front of the European Union institutions in Brussels, in Dublin, and at Berlin Wall landmarks.

He held extensive diplomatic engagements in Islamabad, briefing European and Islamic countries’ ambassadors on the situation in Indian-administered Kashmir and alleged human rights violations.

Barrister Chaudhry was also the only AJK political leader to visit Indian-administered Kashmir, where he addressed a public gathering at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk and met senior Kashmiri leaders, including Syed Ali Gilani, Syed Shabbir Shah and Yasin Malik. The visit is considered of historic significance.

He is remembered as a mass leader with political support across all constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and as a tireless campaigner for the Kashmir cause on the international stage.