India Kashmir political coalition splits

The political coalition in Jammu and Kashmir has split amidst rising violence in the state.

The ruling Hindu nationalist BJP said the three-year alliance with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) had become “untenable”. The move comes days after the UN's human rights office called for an independent inquiry into human rights violations in both parts of Kashmir, run respectively by India and Pakistan.

The chief minister of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, has resigned following the BJP’s decision to pull out of the alliance with her party.

The BJP has cited the killing of influential Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari by unidentified gunmen last week as one of the reasons for ending the coalition.