Daughter of late Indian Kashmir leader becomes first woman chief minister of the restive region

The leader of a pro-India party on Monday became the first woman to become the chief minister of Indian-controlled Kashmir following the death of her father, the region’s top elected leader.

Mehbooba Mufti took the oath of office after her Peoples’ Democratic Party and India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ended a nearly three-month deadlock over forming the state government.

The chief minister’s post had fallen vacant after Mufti’s father and PDP founder Mufti Mohammed Sayeed died in January.

Since then, Mufti has been reluctant to continue her party’s coalition with the Hindu nationalist BJP without an assurance from its leaders that they would take “confidence building” steps to improve the restive Himalayan region. Mufti held a meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month but details of her agreement with the BJP remain unclear.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party’s coalition government with the BJP came about after prolonged negotiations, as no single party won a majority needed to form a government in the state during elections in 2014.

The alliance marked the first time the rightwing BJP held a leadership position in the Muslim-majority region also claimed by India’s arch-enemy, Pakistan.