(May 2, 1952 – April 18, 2011)
A senior politician, writer and an environmental activist, Sadiq Ali breathed his last on the April 18 at Sher-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura.  Sadiq was suffering from heart ailments from the past few months. Senior politicians of the state have regretted his loss terming it vacuum to remain unfulfilled.

Sadiq was close associate of the Sheikh Mohmmad Abdullah since his childhood in the political gimmicks of the state.
Belonging to business family, Sdiq’s father, Jaffer Ali was working with world famous papier machie art of the Kashmir valley. They lived in the Hassanabad area of Srinagar city. Sadiq graduated from Aligarh Muslim University and obtained his masters in political science from the university. This made his way easy in the political understanding of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sadiq entered in the politics at a very young age and remained a closest associate of Sheikh Abdullah. He got elected to state legislature several times as a National Conference candidate. He held the post of treasurer of the party for a long period of about twenty-three years.

For all these years of being in politics, Sadiq has been doing many things. It all depended on his mood. Sometimes, he would start crafting a solution for Kashmir issue and sometimes, he would start offering his prescription for restoring Dal lake.

After being part of the NC for a long time, when Sadiq felt he was on the margins, he quit the party and joined its arch rival – the PDP. He, however, cited personnel reasons for crossing the ideological barrier. In fact after his switch over, he did address a number of press conferences and did a few write-ups as well. After some time Sadiq deserted PDP and joined NC again in 2009.

Sadiq’s death was termed big loss by everybody from NC to PDP. Farooq Abdullah who has been a very close friend of Sadiq joined the bereaved family at their residence and participated in the funeral prayers. Sadiq is survived by his widow and four sons.

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