Former Hurriyat Conference chairman Abdul Gani Bhat, a moderate separatist leader known for advocating dialogue over violence, passed away at 90 at his residence in Sopore. Born in 1935, Bhat co-founded the Muslim United Front in 1986 and later served as chairman of the Hurriyat Conference and president of the Muslim Conference, Jammu and Kashmir, which was banned by the Indian government. Unlike the hardline separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, also from Sopore, Bhat was open to negotiations with the Indian government, facilitating talks with Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh in the early 2000s and supporting compromise to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Geelani, on the other hand, rejected UN resolutions and the four-point formula proposed by Pakistan, accusing moderates like Bhat of betrayal. Despite their political differences, both men were key figures in the separatist movement. Bhat urged restraint after India’s abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 and criticized violence within the separatist ranks, acknowledging internal conflicts and losses.His death marks the gradual fading of the last vestiges of separatism in Kashmir.