NC leader Mustafa Kamal dies at 83

Veteran National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir minister Sheikh Mustafa Kamal died at a private hospital in Srinagar on Tuesday following a prolonged illness, his family said. He was 83.

Kamal, the younger brother of National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah and uncle of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, was the additional general secretary of the party.

He was laid to rest at a graveyard in the Sonwar area of the city. Apart from the Abdullahs, ministers, NC’s MPs and MLAs, and a host of other leaders joined the funeral prayers for the departed soul.

Before joining politics, Kamal earned his MBBS degree from the Sawai Mansingh Medical College in Jaipur, Rajasthan, in 1962.

He later built a distinguished legislative career and became a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council from 1983 to 1987. Kamal represented the Gulmarg constituency in Baramulla district as an MLA from 1987 until 2002. Throughout his political career, he held various high-profile Cabinet portfolios.