1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed

The 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed was an act carried out by members of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, a Kashmiri Muslim militant organization, on December 8, 1989, in Jammu and Kashmir. Rubaiya was the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, then the Home minister of India in the V. P. Singh government. The kidnappers demanded the release of five of their militants in exchange for Rubaiya's release. The Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah did not want to capitulate. But the Central government accepted their demands and freed the jailed militants . Rubaiya was kidnapped within five days of her father being made the first Muslim Minister for Home Affairs (India) by the V. P. Singh Government to instill confidence within the Kashmiri people.

Rubaiya Sayeed, then 23 years old, was the third daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. She was then a medical intern at Lal Ded Memorial Women’s Hospital.

She was kidnapped at 3:45 p.m. on December 8, 1989, about 500 metres from her home at Nowgam when she was returning from the Lal Ded Memorial Women’s Hospital in a local mini bus. Four militants forced her out of the vehicle at gunpoint into a waiting Maruti car and disappeared.

Representatives of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front telephoned the local newspaper Kashmir Times at about 5:30 p.m., stating that their group’s mujahideen had kidnapped Dr Rubaiya Sayeed, and that she would remain their hostage until the government released Sheikh Abdul Hameed, a JKLF “area commander” Ghulam Nabi Butt, younger brother of the late Maqbool Butt; Noor Muhammad Kalwal; Muhammed Altaf; and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar .

The editor, Muhammad Sofi, phoned both the Home Minister and the government to pass on the news. The chief minister Farooq Abdullah cut short his holiday in London and returned to Delhi. Senior IB and police officials, including Ved Marwah, Director General of the National Security Guards, reached Srinagar before dawn the next day.

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