Abdul Gani Bhat

Some Lesser Known Facts About Abdul Gani Bhat

• Abdul Gani Bhat was born in 1935 in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, India.

• He studied at Sri Pratap College in Srinagar and completed undergraduate degrees in Persian, Economics, and Political Science.

• He obtained a postgraduate degree in Persian and a law degree from Aligarh Muslim University. He started his professional career as a lawyer in Sopore but left the practice shortly after.

• In March 1963, he was appointed as a professor of Persian at Government Degree College, Poonch. He worked in the state education department for more than two decades.

• In 1986, he was dismissed from service by the state government on security grounds.

• In July 1986, he co-founded the Muslim United Front (MUF), a coalition of religious and social groups. The MUF contested the 1987 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections, which were later alleged to be rigged.

• He was arrested after the elections and spent several months in jail. After the MUF fragmented, he revived the Muslim Conference, Jammu and Kashmir (MCJK) as one of its successor factions.

• In 1993, he became chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a coalition of separatist groups. In 2004, he was part of a Hurriyat delegation that met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani.

• He also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the Kashmir issue. After the 2016–2017 Kashmir unrest, he distanced himself from street protests and criticised shutdown calendars issued by the Hurriyat.

• In December 2017, he was removed as president of the MCJK after reports of his meeting with interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma.

• He continued to be known as a moderate voice in Kashmir politics in the later years of his life.

• He died on 17 September 2025 at the age of 89 in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir. Authorities advised his family to complete last rites the same night.

• Several leaders including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mehbooba Mufti, and Omar Abdullah paid tributes and remembered him as a moderate and pro-dialogue leader.