Srinagar, India // The leader of India’s insurgency-plagued Jammu and Kashmir state and an ally of prime minister Narendra Modi died on Thursday, bringing political uncertainty to the disputed region at the heart of tension between India and Pakistan.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, 79, died of a respiratory infection after spending the last two weeks in hospital in New Delhi, his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said.
Sayeed – one of the country's best-known Muslim politicians who went into an unlikely coalition with Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist party following inconclusive state elections at the end of 2014 – was appointed to lead Jammu and Kashmir state for a second time last year.
He will likely be succeeded as chief minister by his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, who is currently the head of the moderate PDP that her father founded in 1999.
Sayeed likened the controversial coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party at the time to a meeting of the North and South Pole. The BJP wants to bring the contested region into the Indian mainstream, while Sayeed’s party supports self-rule.
THe mufti will be given a state funeral in Kashmir, with Mr Modi expected to attend.
“Mufti Sahab’s demise leaves a huge void in the nation & in J&K, where his exemplary leadership had a major impact on people’s lives,” the prime minister tweeted, using an honorific denoting respect.
The PDP’s main support base is among Muslims in the Kashmir Valley, the epicentre of the separatist insurgency that broke out in 1989, although the party stops short of calling for independence for the restive Himalayan region.
Analysts said the death of the veteran leader, who also served as chief minister in Kashmir between 2002 and 2005, was unlikely to trigger major change.
“The BJP and PDP have limited options and will try to continue in power,” said Happymon Jacob, assistant professor of international studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“But Mehbooba is a bit immature when it comes to the administrative part. She has never held any position in the government and has to start from scratch in an alliance with an ideologically disparate partner.”
She is known to take a more pro-Kashmiri stance than her father and the BJP on the most contentious issues, but the coalition is expected to last.
Sayeed, a former lawyer, was appointed India’s first Muslim home minister in 1989.
Later the same year another of his daughters was kidnapped by Kashmiri militants. She was eventually released in exchange for five jailed rebels.
His party won the 2002 election in Kashmir on a promise to bring a “healing touch” to the war-ravaged region, and Sayeed has won praise for his efforts to bring about reconciliation.
But he also faced criticism at home for his perceived closeness to New Delhi. A profile of the chief minister in the latest issue of Indian magazine The Caravan was headlined "The Collaborator – how Mufti Mohammad Sayeed became Delhi's man in Kashmir".
Several rebel groups have for decades been fighting Indian forces deployed on the Indian side of divided Kashmir, seeking independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan.
The fighting has left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians.
The region is divided between India and Pakistan, both of which claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir and clashes across their disputed frontier there do occur, although a 2003 ceasefire has largely held.
Sayeed’s body will be flown on Thursday to Kashmir, where his funeral is expected to take place later in the day.
* Reuters and Agence France-Presse
