By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Srinagar: On Thursday morning, people of Jammu and Kashmir woke up to the news of the demise of its Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the PDP patron who took oath as chief minister on March 1 last year.
Sayeed, who was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, had remained in its intensive care unit since December 24. He was detected with sepsis, decreased blood count and pneumonia, with complaints of neck pain and fever and breathed his last around 7:30 on Thursday morning.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is the second J&K CM to die in office, the first one being Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who died on September 8, 1982. Sayeed was part of the Congress for many years before he broke away in 1999 to launch his party (PDP) along with his daughter. He has served as the India’s first Muslim home minister from December 1989 to November 1990.
Immediately after his death, the J&K government has declared seven-day mourning while the Union government declared a day of “national mourning”.
The University of Kashmir called for closing its operations on Thursday while the Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) and the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) too postponed all examinations scheduled for Thursday.
The mortal remains of CM reached the Srinagar airport in the afternoon and was later driven to his Fairview residence on Gupkar road, near TRC, Srinagar where hundreds of people, bureaucrats besides leaders from different political parties had already gathered to pay their homage.
Braving the chill, thousands of people attended the funeral prayers of Syeed, which were held at the Sher-i-Kashmir cricket stadium.
Later, his body was taken to his ancestral graveyard in Bijbehara, 45 kms from Srinagar, where he was laid to rest.
The PDP MP and 56-year-old daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mehbooba Mufti, is supposed to take over as the first woman chief minister of J&K after BJP and PDP unanimously extended their support for her.
Here are the pictures showing how the events unfolded during the day:
