The Hindu : First woman to head political party in J&K

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 11, 2003

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National

First woman to head political party in J&K

By Our Special Correspondent

SRINAGAR MAY 10. Mehbooba Mufti today became the first woman politician of Jammu and Kashmir to head a political party. Known for her political activism, she not only changed the history but also gave a new direction to politics in the State.

Daughter of the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, she formally took over as president of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), which she made a name in the State politics within a short span of three years. She presided over the party's Executive Committee, the first after the elections last year. Ms. Mufti took over from Muzaffar Hussain Beig, who stepped down last week.

Like the National Conference president, Omar Abdullah, Ms. Mufti inherited politics as a profession.

But with a difference. In 1996, she defeated the NC candidate in her home constituency of Bijbehara on the Congress ticket and entered the 87-member State Assembly.

For three years she was in the Congress but settled down for a regional party and along with her father set up the PDP that hoped to harness the anti-India sentiment that dominated the State.

The PDP broke new ground by challenging the NC's claim of being the sole Kashmiri party.

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