Srinagar: Yousuf Buch, a known Kashmir expert, former Pakistani minister and former senior advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations, passed away in the US on Friday evening at his home in New York.
Ambassador Buch, at the end of his scholastic career, passed a competitive examination to win a place in what was called the government’s superior service. But the radical overhaul which was the sequel to the liquidation of the colonial order affected him directly; from being a privileged government official, he became a political prisoner as he was vocally among the opponents of the Maharaja Hari Singh’s so-called accession to India and New Delhi’s invasion in Jammu and Kashmir. This led to his being exiled to Pakistan through a compulsory exchange of war and political prisoners in 1949.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chairman of the Hurriyat (M), in his condolence message said that Buch dedicated his life for the Kashmir cause.
Grieved to hear about the death of Ambassador Yousuf Buch in US, a legend and a living encyclopedia on #Kashmir who dedicated his life to the Kashmir cause.He was a close aide of Mirwaiz Yousuf Shah in Muzzafarabad who later served as advisor to UN Sec Gen for 18 years. Praying.. pic.twitter.com/uRc4ZBQLED
— Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) May 25, 2019
for the magfirah of this illustrious son of Kashmir
— Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) May 25, 2019
Ambassador Buch came to the US in 1953 as a winner of an International Essay Contest sponsored by the United Nations. Later, he worked as a correspondent at the United Nations. He also, ran a Free Kashmir Centre in New York from 1957 to 1972. He remained a Senior Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General for over 18 years.
Ambassador Buch was also the Minister for Information in the cabinet of late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Switzerland.