Srinagar, Dec 5 (IANS): National Conference leaders paid tributes to the party founder and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah, popularly known as Sher-e-Kashmir or Lion of Kashmir, on his 112th birth anniversary on Tuesday.

Scores of supporters joined former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah and other senior party leaders in offering prayers and floral tributes to the late leader.

Sheikh Abdullah, born on December 5, 1905, is regarded as one of the most charismatic Kashmiri leaders remembered for his role to liberate the state from the autocratic rule of the Maharajas.

He is also remembered for the revolutionary land reforms he initiated to end absentee landlordship.

The decision to grant proprietary rights to the peasants was the first such decision after the country's independence in 1947 to empower the under privileged peasants.

He died on September 8, 1982, and is buried on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar's Hazratbal area.

Sheikh Abdullah's birth anniversary is observed as a public holiday in the state.