Jagmohan Malhotra, who presided as governor of Jammu and Kashmir when the armed insurgency broke out in early nineties, died on Tuesday in the national capital after a brief illness. He was 94.

Born on September 25, 1927, Jagmohan, as he was known in political and security circles, began his career as a civil servant during which he held key positions in several departments of centre and state governments.
He served two terms as Jammu and Kashmir Governor. He was first brought to the erstwhile state in 1984 and he left in 1989. However, it was his short second tenure from January 1990 which ended in May that year that brought him into limelight.
Kashmir witnessed some of the worst human rights abuses during this time including the infamous Gaw Kadal Massacre, Handwara Massacre and others, even as he was accused of facilitating the exit of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley to communalise what was essentially a political problem.
He has however denied these charges. “Differences between him and the then V P Singh-led government at the Centre grew over tackling militancy in the region” led to his tenure being cut short, one author wrote.
His book, My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir, which deals with his tenure as J&K governor, was a bestseller and went into several reprints. However, his description of events that led to exodus of Kashmiri Pandits and the wholesale killings of Kashmiri Muslims has been contested by several authors and rights groups.
“An author and voracious reader, Jagmohan would spend hours in India International Centre library here reading and taking notes before illness forced him to keep away in the last couple of years,” reports said.
Earlier, he also served as Delhi's lieutenant governor and was praised for preparing the city to host the Asian Games in 1982.
Jagmohan was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1971, Padma Bhushan in 1977 and Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, in 2016, by the BJP’s central government.
He represented the BJP in Lok Sabha several times from New Delhi constituency and was a union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.