Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 31:JAMMU, May 31: Founder of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) and prominent Supreme Court lawyer, Prof Bhim Singh passed away in Jammu today.
He was 81 and was not keeping well for the last about three weeks. He breathed his last in Govt Medical College, Hospital, Jammu this morning.
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Singh, a former Legislator originally hailed from Udhampur district’s Bhugtrian village. He has left behind his wife Jai Mala and son, Ankit Love, who live in London. His last rites will be performed at his home place in Udhampur tomorrow (June Ist) at 3 pm.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lieutenant Governor of J&K UT Manoj Sinha and heads of various political parties expressed their condolences on the demise of Singh, who emerged as a major political face to reckon with in the Jammu and Kashmir.
“Prof Bhim Singh will be remembered as a grassroots leader who devoted his life for the welfare of Jammu and Kashmir. He was very well read and scholarly. I will always recall my interactions with him. Saddened by his demise. Condolences to his family and supporters. Om Shanti,” Prime Minister Modi said in a tweet.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha said he was deeply saddened to learn about the passing away of Singh. “My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and friends in this hour of grief. Om Shanti,” Sinha said in a tweet.
Bhim Singh was also a human rights activist, author and a Supreme Court lawyer, who was re-elected unopposed as a senior executive member of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh said he was deeply saddened by the demise of the Panthers Party’s founder-patron. “He was probably the first leading firebrand political activist of post-Independence Jammu and Kashmir and had begun to make an impact from early years, first as a student leader and then a member of the Congress party. My respectful condolence,” he said in a tweet.
Former J&K Chief Ministers and senior NC leaders, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah also expressed grief over the sad demise of Prof Bhim Singh and prayed for the peace to the departed soul.
Former J&K Governor, NN Vohra paid rich tributes to Prof Bhim Singh who breathed his last in Jammu hospital today. Vohra described him as a truly secular leader passionately devoted to furthering India-Pakistan relations, particularly in context of Jammu and Kashmir. Vohra while lauding role of Prof Bhim Singh during Shri Amarnth land row, said he was one of the rare sane voices in the times when communal passion were running high.
Former Sadr-i-Riasat Dr Karan Singh, JKPCC chief GA Mir, Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari, People’s Conference president Sajjad Lone, CPI (M) leader MY Tarigami and many others expressed grief over the sudden demise of Prof Bhim Singh and conveyed their condolences to the bereaved family. They also recalled their association with Prof Singh.
It is pertinent to mention here that Bhim Singh held several key positions in the Congress from the president of the party’s J&K youth wing to its national general secretary, before launching his own Panthers Party in October 1982.
He studied Law at the University of London. He was the first Indian to be elected secretary of the University of London Union in 1971.
In the 2002 Assembly elections, his Party won four seats and became a coalition partner in the Mufti Mohmmed Sayeed government. Singh had also provided legal aid to over 200 people from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, who were languishing for decades in different jails across the country. His help saw the release of most of these prisoners.
The veteran leader, who travelled to over 130 countries around the world on a motorcycle, was friends with stalwarts such as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Libya’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
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