Jammu and Kashmir CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed dies at 79

On Thursday morning, people of Jammu and Kashmir woke up to the news of the demise of its Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the PDP patron who took oath as chief minister on March 1 a year ago.

He had founded the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party in 1999. We shall all miss him. “My condolence to his family and supporters (sic)”, he tweeted.

Before Admitted to the Hospital Mufti Sayeed Hinted in a Press Conference That He want to give the reigh to his Daughter Mehbooba Mufti. Last rites of the leader will be performed at his ancestral village in South Kashmir. During hospitalisation his platelets had dropped dangerously, doctors said. For the past few days, the Chief Minister was on a ventilator. His daughter Mehbooba is seen as the “logical choice” as his successor as chief minister, senior BJP sources have said.

Sayeed, 79, is survived by his wife, four children including PDP President Mehbooba Mufti.

The leader of India’s insurgency-plagued Jammu and Kashmir state, and an ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, died yesterday, bringing political uncertainty to the disputed region at the heart of tensions between India and Pakistan.

Sayeed served as the Home Minister of India from December 1989 to November 1990 during the VP Singh government.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described his leadership as “exemplary”. Mr Sayeed maintained that the last wish of his 60-year-long political career was peace between India and Pakistan and said that the decision to forge an alliance with the BJP, the ruling party at the Centre, was to fulfil his dream. I’m shocked and deeply saddened.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah too joined his peers and said: “My heart felt sympathies to Mrs. Sayeed, Mehbooba and the entire family in this most hard of times. May his soul rest in peace”.

Several other political bigwigs and President Pranab Mukherjee also expressed their condolences to the PDP leader.

Sayeed is the second Jammu and Kashmir chief minister to die in office, the first one being Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who died on September 8, 1982.