Wednesday, 6 January 2016

TKS Web Desk
1. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was the 12th Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir


Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, a veteran People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader, is the 12th Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state. He assumed office on 1 March 2015. This was the second time Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the patron of the PDP, was sworn-in as the CM of the state. Sayeed had first held the office of the Chief Minister of the J&K from 2 November 2002 to 2 November 2005.

2. Mufti’s Daughter was kidnapped within five days of his swearing in as the Union Home Minister in 1989


The present PDP president Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed is one of his daughters. His third daughter Rubaiya Sayeed got into news headlines within five days of Mufti’s swearing in as the Union Home Minister in 1989. She was kidnapped by the militant outfit - Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and was freed only after the Central Government freed five prisoners. 

3. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is the only Kashmiri to become Home Minister of India


Mufti Mohammad Sayeed started his political career in the late 1950s when he joined the Democratic National Conference (DNC). Sayeed held his first formal post under the membership of the DNC when he was appointed as the District Convenor of the party. In 1962, Sayeed was elected from Bijbehara to the state legislative assembly. Five years later, he retained the seat. Consequently, DNC’s Chief Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq appointed him as his deputy.

However, a few years later, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed fell out with the party leaders and joined the Indian National Congress (INC). He was considered as one of the few leaders in Jammu and Kashmir who made the INC a major political force in the state, opposing the DNC. 

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed became a State Minister in the Congress government in 1972. He was also designated as the President of the Pradesh Congress and the leader of the Congress Legislature Party. Sayeed was handed the portfolio of Tourism and Civil Aviation in the Union Cabinet by the then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. Sayeed’s association with the Congress came to an end in 1987 when he joined Jan Morcha, led by V. P. Singh. Subsequently, he went on to become the Union Home Minister in 1989  — elected not from his home state but from UP.

The virulence and depth of his feelings about the Abdullahs was there for all to see. Farooq Abdullah sent a message that he didn’t want Jagmohan as Governor. As home minister, whom did Mufti send? Jagmohan, despite advice to the contrary by then President R Venkataraman. Abdullah resigned.

4. Mufti is called the healing touch man of Kashmir


After launching the PDP in 1999 and becoming chief minister in 2002, largely because of the intervention of a man called Manmohan Singh (who invented the three-year rotational chief ministership), did Mufti leave a legacy for Kashmir to remember? He promised to dismantle the Special Operations Group; they now function under the direction of the armed police. In winter, Kashmir saw load-shedding for up to 18 hours a day; that continues. The only employer in Kashmir continues to be the government.

5. Mufti Has a Degree in Arabic History



Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was born in Baba Mohalla of Bijbehara, Jammu and Kashmir, on 12 January 1936. He graduated and obtained a law degree from SP College in Srinagar. He further went on to obtain his master’s degree in Arab History from Aligarh Muslim University. 

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