Mufti Mohammad Sayeed – three controversies that surrounded his political career

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed died on Thursday morning at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where he was admitted for the past 15 days.

In a political career spanning nearly six decades, Sayeed, who had become the only Muslim Home Minister of the country, got embroiled in three major controversies:

1. Sayeed joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party despite ideological differences to rule Jammu and Kashmir in 2015. Notably, this was the BJP's first brush with power in the only Muslim-majority state.
2. In 2008, PDP leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had demanded cancellation of allotment of forest land to the Amarnath shrine board for construction of temporary structures for yatris. The PDP was a partner of the Congress-led coalition in the state at that time.
3. Sayeed's stint in the Home Ministry, at a time when militancy had begun to rear its ugly head in his home state, would, however, be most remembered for the kidnapping of his third daughter Rubaiya by JKLF. The militants demanded freeing five of their comrades in exchange for Rubaiya's freedom and let her off only after their demand was met.