Srinagar: Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti was re-elected as the president of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday for a three-year term.
PDP Vice President Abdul Rehman Veeri proposed the name of Mufti for the post of president and was seconded by Ghulam Nabi Hanjura.
Prior to her re-election, the PDP wrote on X: “Vice President A R Veeri has proposed the name of @MehboobaMufti as the President, seconded by General Secretary G N L Hanjura. Election process through voice vote underway.”
She was elected for a three-year term through the voice vote, a senior party leader said.
The 64-year-old firebrand leader was first elected as the PDP president after her father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed passed away in January 2016. She was re-elected as the President in February 2021.
At the age of 57 Mufti became the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in April 2016 and remained in office till June 2018 when the BJP withdrew its support from the alliance government.
From her personal life as a single mother to being a driving force at the grassroots in the rise of PDP against traditional politics of the National Conference, Mufti faced multiple challenges, but emerged more successful than before. After the abrogation of J&K’s special status under Article 370 on August 5, 2019, she was jailed for a year.
A law graduate from University of Kashmir and a single mother of two daughters—Illtija and Irtiqa—Mufti won her first election as a Congress candidate in 1996 Assembly polls, when militant strikes were frequent.
When insurgency was at its peak during ‘90s and politicians were afraid to move freely even in the secure pockets of Srinagar, Mufti braved the danger to tread into the volatile areas, where militancy was raging.
She even visited families of slain militants. In 1999, she visited the residence of the then Hizb-ul-Mujahideen operations chief Aamir Khan whose teenage son, Abdul Hameed, had allegedly been killed in custody by the security forces.
(Published 26 October 2023, 09:45 IST)