New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away on Thursday morning at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here. Sayeed, 79, breathed his last at 7.15 am and died due to multiple organ failure.
Here are some facts from his life and political career:
- Sayeed was born on January 12, 1936 in Bijbehara.
- Sayeed founded the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir in July 1999.
- This was Sayeed's second term as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. He was sworn in on March 1, 2015.
- In his first term, Sayeed served as J&K CM from November 2, 2002 to November 2, 2005 as the head of the PDP-Congress coalition government.
- Sayeed also served as the Union Home Minister from December 1989 to November 1990 in the VP Singh government. He was the first Muslim Home Minister of India.
- Sayeed was a member of the Indian National Congress till 1987.
- He quit the Congress in 1987 and joined VP Singh's Jan Morcha.
- Sayeed returned to the Congress fold when PV Narasimha Rao was the prime minister.
- In 1999, Sayeed again quit the Congress to launch his own party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
- In 1989, when Sayeed was the Union home minister, terrorists had kidnapped his third daughter Rubaiya. She was eventually freed in exchange for the release of five militants.
