KL Report
SRINAGAR
India Vice President Hamid Ansari flew a high level delegation to Riyadh to condole King Abdullah;s death. The delegation includes Congressman Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and M J Akbar.
While condoling the demise of King Abdullah, Azad said “It is very saddening and shocking, as the world has lost a visionary leader in the passing away of King Abdullah. He has transformed Saudi Arabia into a rapidly growing economy, characterized by modern and state of art infrastructure.”
“Late King Abdullah was a staunch advocate of strong and friendly relations with India and under his leadership, the two countries shared an excellent bonding,” said Azad adding that lakhs of Indian citizens have been attracted towards Saudi Arabia for earning their livelihood due to the enabling policies pursued by Late King Abdullah.
In Srinagar, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik paid tributes to late king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia who died day before, Malik expressed condolences to the bereaved family and to the people of Saudi Arabia and said that late leader was a visionary who led Islamic world using his leadership abilities.
Moderate Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq also grieved over the demise of King Abdullah and termed him well wisher of Kashmiri people and a strong supporter of Kashmir cause.
“Islamic world has lost a great leader,” Mirwaiz said in a statement. “The great leader played a pivotal role in forming the Kashmir Contact Group during the 1994 OIC conference to highlight the Kashmir dispute globally including in the Islamic world.” He said close associates of former Saudi king were also part of Kashmir contact group on the time of its formation apart from members belonging to the Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Turkey.
Mirwaiz said last time he met late King was during the OIC conference in Makkah, adding, during his meeting, the king reiterated that Kashmir issue should be solved to bring peace and stability in the south Asia. He said the former Saudi king also emphasized on the need of increasing the efforts of Kashmir Contact Group to internationalize the significance of Kashmir issue and rapidly to move towards conflict resolution of the dispute.
