Satya Pal Malik takes oath as 13th governor of J&K

POLITICIAN INCUMBENT He will have state’s direct administrative control as state has been under governor’s rule since June when BJP withdrew support to Pdpled government

SRINAGAR : Satya Pal Malik, 72, was sworn in Jammu and Kashmir’s 13th governor on Thursday. J&K high court chief justice Gita Mittal administered him the oath of office at the Rajbhawan (governor’s house) here.

Malik will have the state’s direct administrative control since J&K has been under governor’s rule since June when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support to the People’s Democratic Party (Pdp)-led coalition government. He is the first politician to be named the state’s governor in five decades.

IMMEDIATE CHALLENGE

Malik’s arrival in Srinagar on Sunday coincided with the killing of four people, including three policemen, in separate militant attacks.

His immediate challenge will be to oversee local bodies’ polls likely to be conducted in a few months. The elections have been delayed due to a rise in the militant violence.

Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were among the 500 guests, who attended Malik’s oath-taking ceremony.

Malik has served as Bihar and Odisha’s governor. He began his political career in Uttar Pradesh in the 1970s and joined the BJP in 2004. Malik replaced Narendra Nath Vohra, who had been thej&k governor since 2008.

Ali Mohammad Sagar of Abdullah’s National Conference hoped Malik would be “just and fair”. “We hope he will take all the parties on board before taking crucial decisions and play his role in stopping the bloodshed in the state.’’

State Congress vice-president Ghulam Nabi Monga called Malik a bad choice and said he cannot be partisan. “J&K is a very sensitive state. Under the BJP rule, the state had witnessed a rise in violence and things could get worse as the new governor is from the BJP.’’