A Healer In Mufti

Now it is the turn of elder sister Mehbooba, who is creating another kind of wave in the history of Kashmir. A divorcee who has single-handedly raised two daughters, Mehbooba used to assist her father when he was Congress chief of the state unit. So she is no political novice.

Mehbooba shot into the limelight in 1996 when she won as a Congress candidate from Bijbehara in the Valley, her hometown from where the Mufti had been defeated twice by the NC. Three years later, father and daughter saw the vacuum in the Valley and founded the PDP. The gutsy Mehbooba then fought against Omar Abdullah from Srinagar in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. She lost but by then she had built up a reputation as a fighter. Since then she has travelled to every corner of the Valley. She has visited homes where people have fallen to militant bullets and also villages where the military has committed atrocities. Mehbooba, incidentally, has been very vocal against military excesses.

The PDP does not consider Kashmir a disputed territory but a "dispute" that needs to be resolved through dialogue. This dialogue, they say, must include all the separatist groups, including gun-wielding militants. They have also promised the repealing of pota, disbanding of the notorious sog, and the release of political prisoners like Yasin Malik and Syed Ali Geelani.

As Mehbooba says, "You cannot expect us to compromise on certain issues. New Delhi must understand and still give the healing touch to the people of the Valley." People in the Valley see her as a fearless woman who has braved bullets and militant threats to build her party from scratch. Her speeches, unlike her father's, are very pro-people and sometimes border on separatist politics. The Mufti has learned to play both sides, and describes himself as pro-India. Unlike Omar, though, Mehbooba has worked hard at the grassroots level. Perhaps the reason why she has emerged as the charismatic face of this election.