Srinagar: In a tribute to former Chief Minister and founder of the ruling PDP Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on his first death anniversary, senior separatist leader and former Hurriyat Chairman Prof Abdul Gani Bhat has said Mufti died while serving people and he believes that he died a pleasant death.In a six-page tribute, which has been published in the “Sheeraza” of the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, highlighting the contributions of Mufti, the separatist while quoting Persian mystic Moulana Rumi, writes: “The beauty of living lies in dying, which you can recognise only at death. If you die serving your people, alleviating the pain of people, your dying will be pleasant. More pleasant than the pleasant mornings of spring.”Comparing Mufti’s death in this backdrop, who he addresses as “My friend”, Bhat writes, “My friend Mufti Mohammad Sayeed chose to take stock of the projects under construction in Srinagar from morning till evening towards the end of his life. He fell in the evening and never got back to Srinagar alive. He died while serving and I believe he died a pleasant death. God bless him.”Recalling his school and college days, Bhat says he made friends with Mufti when both of them were on the cusp of puberty and had enrolled for further studies in Srinagar’s SP College. He added that they first met in the Barbar Shah locality of Srinagar.“Hum dono gaon say taluq rakhtay thay. Mera taluq Kamraz say tha aur unka taluq Maraz say tha aur hum yamraz mein jama ho gay” (We both hailed from villages. I was from Kamraz ‘north Kashmir’. He was from Maraz (south Kashmir) and we both met in Yamraz (central Kashmir Srinagar).“Mufti Sahab was bigger, bulkier and probably a shade more impressive than me. But, let me go on record that in all humility that I would never disappear in his shadow,” Bhat said.Revealing the level of the relationship, both of them shared, the Hurriyat leader writes that he shared a personal relation with the former Chief Minister, not the political as many would like to believe, adding that Mufti, who hailed from Bijbehara town in south Kashmir, used to visit his Botengoo village in north Kashmir’s Sopore area.“I also used to visit Mufti’s home on his invite, when the Mufti household used to prepare fish and vegetable,” Bhat writes.“Before he (Mufti) took over as CM, he would always call me for such feasts. He would occasionally give me a ring for a meeting during his Chief Ministership but I would not oblige. I never saw him at his home in his position as Chief Minister of J&K,” Bhat further revealed.Describing Mufti’s traits, Bhat writes, “He was never quarrelsome. He could laugh away opposition or perhaps ignore it silently.”“The truth is that we were two bodies but one spirit,” Bhat writes while describing his friendship with Mufti, adding that “He has left, but I am still alive. But till my last breath I would keep on paying tributes to him.”Bhat writes that despite belonging to two opposite political thoughts and camps, both of them never allowed the “negativities” to influence their friendship.Bhat also recalled his visit to Mufti’s town during campaigning for the Muslim Muttahida Mahaz – the united front of Kashmir’s politico-religious parties that took part in 1987 Assembly elections.“I believed that if Mufti would not support us, he would also not oppose us,” Bhat writes while recalling his election campaign in Mufti’s town in 1987 when Mufti headed Congress in J&K.
Separatist Prof Abdul Gani Bhat pays tribute to ‘friend’ Mufti
