HUNDREDS of people filled out Cheetham Hill's Khizrah Mosque to pay their respect to a former Kashmiri political leader.

Founder and former president of Tehreek-e-Kashmir (UK) Syed Munwar Hussain Mushadi passed away on Saturday morning after suffering from a fatal stroke. His funeral was held the following day at the local mosque on Cheetham Hill Road. Hundreds of people from all over the UK and political leaders from Pakistan arrived in Manchester to pay their last respects.

Mr Mushadi who lived on Woddlands Street, was a well known and renowned human rights activist who spent his life helping and supporting the call for justice and freedom in Kashmir, respected nationally and internationally he was also an established journalist, author, and scholar.

His wife, TV presenter Ummi Adil said her husband was reciting the Quran when he passed away.

Former Cheetham Hill Councillor, Qassim Afzal said the death of Mr Mushadi was a great loss to the people of Manchester.

"He was a very popular man. Not only did he spend years fighting for justice in Kashmir but also he was very much a Manchester man who as a cancer patient raised £16,000 for Christies Hospital amongst many other charitable causes," said Mr Afzal.

"He will be widely missed by family friends and people who came across him over the years. Our prayers and thoughts are for him and his family."

Tehreek-e-Kashmir (TeK) was founded in 1985 by Kashmiris living in the UK to ‘highlight the plight of the people of Jammu and Kashmir’.

TeK conducted an ‘international’ Kashmir Conference in 1986 that led to the formation of the All-Party International Kashmir Co-ordination Committee (APKCC) - a conglomerate of various political and social Kashmiri groups in the UK.

Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League, Muhammad Farooq Rehmani has expressed profound grief over the death of Mr Mushadi.

Paying tribute to his political and religious services, he said Kashmiris had lost a sincere and honest leader in the UK.

"His services for Kashmir would always be remembered," he said.