Mehbooba calls PDP workers ‘real mujahideen’

Srinagar, Mar 17: PDP chief and former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Sunday extolled her party workers as “real mujahideen.”
Addressing a large gathering in Kupwara district, Mehbooba said even though a PDP worker “may not have a gun or stone in his hands, you are the real mujahid.”
“Your contribution to the society is far greater than the contribution of workers of other parties that have been around for decades,” she said.
Mehbooba said every Kashmiri should feel proud of PDP as every single worker of the party is an ” asli mujahid.”
She said the PDP was only the party which gave “relief to Kashmiris from POTA, task force, and set up universities and colleges.”
The party also realised the “dream of opening Muzaffarabad- Srinagar route,” she said.
She said the PDP believed in acting as “a bridge between Pakistan and Kashmir so that every Kashmiri will have excess to anywhere he wants to go whether it is Afghanistan or Iran.”
She said her father Mufti Saeed’s tenure as chief minister was a “success due to opening of traditional routes linking Kashmir to rest of the world.”

PDP finalizes panel of candidates

Srinagar, Mar 17: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is holding consultations among the party leadership about fielding candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections in Jammu and Kashmir and will announce names of the candidates in coming days.
Quoting top sources in PDP, news agency Kashmir News Service said that the party is considering former legislator of Sonawar Ashraf Mir, Dr Mehboob Beg and Aga Mohsin for Srinagar Parliamentary seat.
Sources said that on Anantnag parliamentary segment the names of PDP President and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, vice President Abdul Rehman Veeri and Party chief spokesman Rafi Ahmad Mir are being discussed for the poll fray.
For Jammu region seat, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali, Abdul Qayoom Dar and Choudhary Qamar for Jammu-Poonch, while Firdous Tak and Arshad Malik for Udhampur-Doda seat being discussed.
One of the top leaders confirmed about these developments and said: “All these names are in the panel for these seats. Final names will be out in coming days.”
Sources said the name of former trade union leader Abdul Qayoom Wani has been finalised for Baramulla parliamentary constituency where he will lock horns with NC senior leader Akbar Lone and Raja Aijaz Ali of Peoples Conference.
For the seat of Ladakh, Kashmir News Service has learnt that NC, Congress and PDP will field a joint candidate so that the BJP does not win the seat again.
“Such an arrangement has been done in the past also,” sources said. (KNS)