SRINAGAR: Hundreds of people attended the last rites of former MLA and BJP leader Faqeer Mohammad Khan in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal on Friday morning. Khan allegedly died by suicide after shooting himself at his official residence in Srinagar’s Tulsi Bagh on Thursday.
Several leaders and locals gathered in Kangan to pay their final respects as Khan was laid to rest.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti visited Kangan to offer condolences to the family of former Gurez MLA Faqeer Mohammad Khan.
She met Khan’s family and relatives, expressing her sympathies.
BJP leaders in JK saw him as their best chance to make inroads into the Valley. However, his death has cast uncertainty over the party’s future in the region, according to political observers.
Hailing from Tulail in Gurez Valley, Khan’s political journey saw multiple shifts in affiliation, though he never stepped away from electoral battles. He won as an Independent from Gurez in 1996, later contested unsuccessfully on a Congress ticket in 2008 and 2014, and eventually joined the BJP in 2020.
When JK held Assembly elections last year after a decade, the BJP saw Khan as its strongest contender. The party’s top leadership, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, campaigned in Gurez, underscoring the constituency’s importance. However, despite the high-profile campaign, Khan lost to National Conference’s Nazir Khan, also known as Nazir Gurezi, by over 1,100 votes. The BJP’s first real chance at a breakthrough in the Valley slipped away.
In Tulail, where Khan spent most of his life, locals remembered his persistence. “No matter the result, he was always in the fight,” said an elder from Dawar.
“He was always among us, whether we voted for him or not,” added Mohammad Yusuf, another elder from the region. “He fought battles that most wouldn’t dare to.”
“Khan was always seen as the BJP’s bridge in Kashmir,” said a senior politician. “When his son, Ajaz Raja, won the DDC elections from Tulail in 2020—securing one of the BJP’s only two victories in the Valley—it felt like the party had finally found a way in. He wasn’t just a candidate; he was the entry point the BJP had been searching for.”
A senior BJP leader confirmed that Khan was regarded as the party’s best prospect in Kashmir during the 2024 Assembly elections.
“The BJP high command was confident that Gurez would be their breakthrough seat, with Khan as their strongest contender. To bolster his chances, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh personally campaigned for him in Gurez—a rare move that highlighted Khan’s significance to the party. However, despite the heavy push, he lost by a narrow margin,” he said. (KNO)
