Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was re-elected president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday, said she will not allow Kashmir to become a ring of war between India and Pakistan.
“I won’t allow Kashmir to become a ring of war. It should become a bridge of peace between the two nations. Dialogue is the best way to resolve issues,” she said after the elections.
Ms. Mufti said her focus will remain to push her father late Mufti Muhammad Sayed’s mission and vision. “I want to see the end to the sufferings of the people. Denial of the body of a slain son to his father should also end.”
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Ms. Mufti was “unanimously” re-elected for three years. “Her name was proposed by senior leader G.N.L. Hanjura and seconded by Khurshid Alam,” party spokesman Suhail Bukhari said.
Senior leader A.R. Veeri was the chairman of the party election board.
Tough political situation
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Ms. Mufti, who was jailed in 2019 and continues to face a tough political situation post August 5, has been the party president since 2016.
The zonal, district level leaders, former legislators and ex-Ministers and the electoral college both from Kashmir and Jammu provinces took part in the election.
Ms. Mufti’s three-year term ended in October “but fresh elections were delayed due to the pandemic”.
Her re-election comes at a time when the party is seeing an exodus of several senior leaders in the wake of the Centre’s move to end J&K’s special constitutional position on August 5, 2019.