Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Chief Minister Of Jammu And Kashmir, Dies At 79

Mr Sayeed had been in hospital for two weeks and was being treated for a lung infection.

Sayeed’s deteriorating health had given rise to various speculationsabout a possible change of guard.

Mehbooba Mufti played a key role in her father’s victory as Congress candidate in Lok Sabha elections of 1998 when Mr Sayeed defeated NC’s Mohammad Yousuf Taing from south Kashmir. If everything goes well late Mufti Mohamman Sayeed’s daughter Mehbooba Mufti would be sworn in as the CM of the state by tomorrow and leaders of the People’s Democratic Party or PDP have already submitted a letter to Governor NN Vohra, in this connection.

Sayeed’s daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, is likely to be sworn in as the next chief minister with the party having reportedly got the BJP on board for the anointment.

He is the second J and K Chief Minister to die in office, the first one being Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who died on September 8, 1982.

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh paid respects to Sayeed and laid floral wreaths on his coffin at Palam airport in New Delhi.

Sayeed, who was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, had remained in its intensive care unit since December 24.

His body will be taken to Srinagar, the capital city of Indian-administered Kashmir, for burial in his ancestral village, Akhter added. We shall all miss him.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who expressed his condolences to Sayeed’s family at AIIMS, tweeted, “Just heard the awful news of Mufti Sahib’s passing away”.

“It is a great loss to Kashmir, I am really shocked by his death”, Abdul Rehman Veeri, a senior PDP leader and cabinet minister, said. The demise of Shri Mufti Sayeed is an irreparable loss to Jammu and Kashmir. “Mufti Sahab’s demise leaves a huge void in the nation and in J&K, where his exemplary leadership had a major impact on people’s lives”, Modi said in a message on Twitter. He is also the only Muslim so far to become the Home Minister of Independent India. She was released in exchange for the release of five militants.