MEHBOOBA MUFTI

Upbeat over her party’s performance in the last Lok Sabha polls in Kashmir, PDP president and MP South Kashmir asked the new Indian leadership in New Delhi “to provide adequate space to the representatives from Jammu & Kashmir to connect with the parliament and rest of the country with their accumulated problems.”

Mehbooba who won South Kashmir Lok Sabha seat by a thumping 65000 votes showed door to National Conference’s Mehboob Beg.

Born on May 22 in 1955, Mehbooba has two daughters: Iltija and Irtiqa. She is divorced. After she secured law degree from Kashmir University, she was cut off from her public life upbringing her two daughters. Her father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed has been a veteran Congress man before setting up his own party in 1999. Mehbooba is the founding vice president.

Third from Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba took oath in Kashmiri language in Parliament. Earlier, Prof Saif Ud Din and G N Ratanpuri took oath in native language of Kashmir.

Participating in the discussion over the election to 16th Parliament speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, Mehbooba called for ‘national consensus’ over Kashmir. She said that Jammu and Kashmir being electorally small state in union of India, it deserves greater accommodation in view of the problems this state has been facing ever since partition. “Though we are a small state, but it faces more problems than the rest of the country,” she said.

Born and brought up in Akhran Nowpora, Islamabad, Mehbooba, in past during first term of UPA, has been a member of the 14th Lok Sabha, representing South Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency of Jammu and Kashmir. In 1999, she lost the union elections to NC’s Omar Abdullah but won state elections from Pahalgam constituency in 2002 defeating Rafi Mir. She ventured formally in politics in 1996 elections when she was elected to state assembly from Bijbehara seat.

Mehbooba continued in the discussion and said that the representatives from J&K are entrusted with greater responsibilities as the people who vote for them face tremendous odds in doing so. “Recent elections have particularly generated a new atmosphere of hope in the state and people at large expect their representatives to deliver in terms of filling the trust deficit with rest of the country, resolving their problems and bringing a positive change in their lives.”

Mehbooba maintained that as the PM Narendra Modi got a strong mandate from the people of India, it would hopefully help BJP government in adopting a bold approach to the problems of the state. “Vajpayee had said that Kashmir issue will be resolved within the ambit of humanity (Insanyet Kay Dairey main). Also to address the external dimension of Kashmir problem Vajpayee had adopted policy of reconciliation saying (Hum Doost Badel Saktay Hain Humsaya Nahi),” she added.

– Riyaz ul Khaliq

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