read alsomufti mohammad sayeed dies mehbooba likely to succeed as cm but things soon came to a head forcing congress to withdraw support in the bitter often abusive politics of today the always immaculately dressed gentlemanly mufti sayeed was a reminder of a more genteel era of politics when even bitter rivals sat across a table and worked towards consensus always a firm believer in dialogue with pakistan it was on his initiative that a srinagar muzaffarabad bus service was started and that insaaniyat became the new buzzword in the dealing with militancy but the states top post continued to elude him as farooq buried the hatchet with the congress and aligned with it ahead of the 1987 rigged elections that sparked the insurgency a pdpbjp government is a historic opportunity for jk and for indiahe told toi in an interview defying the sceptics who questioned the valleys equation with a modiled bjp mufti sayeed wanted to make dara shikohs garden a tourist spot to showcase his own belief in coexistence sayeed first became a legislator a year after jayaprakash narayan wrote to prime minister indira gandhi protesting rule by force in kashmir while denouncing the 1957 and 1962 elections as anything but free and fair in a political career that stretched back to the early 1960s mufti sayeed would often say main toh nehru ke zamaane ka neta hoon 13 years later in 2002 mufti was at the helm in kashmir after a spectacular electoral debut as head of the peoples democratic party with congress support sayeed was abdullahs natural successor as the head of state congress whether it was sharing a stage with atal bihari vajpayee embracing sonia gandhi or taking the ultimate step of allying with narendra modi in a pdp bjp government there were no untouchables for mufti mohammad sayeed he counted many kashmiri pandits as his friends dara shikhoh was mufti mohammad sayeeds inspiration in muftis home town of bijbehara dara shikoh the 17th century mughal prince who translated the upanishads had created a mughal garden abdullah was rewarded for endorsing the erosion of jks special status and abandoning plebiscite demand he passed away five days before his 80th birthday ending a long career as the consistent unionist in jammu kashmirs politics his tenure coincided with delhis brutal response to the kashmiri insurgency mufti stood in firm repudiation of jinnahs two nation theory hindus and muslims are one nation in india he would say even though the special conditions under which jk acceded to india must be accepted at this time he initiated a healing touch policy designed to reach out to those who he would describe as misguided youth although a congressman at heart sayeed broke away from the rajiv gandhi government to join hands with vp singhs jan morcha even becoming home minister in the vp regime that dream lies unfulfilled as jammu kashmirs lion in winter has passed away before the snows have melted in gulmarg indira had handed over