Mehbooba Mufti

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English Template:Infobox officeholder Mehbooba Bur Mufti Sayed (Urdu: محبوبہ مفتی سید; born 22 May 1959) in Bijbihara Anantnag district is an Indian politician and leader of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party (PDP), who served as the 9th and last chief minister of the erstwhile state Jammu and Kashmir from 4 April 2016 to 19 June 2018. She was the first female chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. After the revocation of Article 370 of the constitution in August 2019, Mufti was detained without any charges at first and later under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

Mufti was the first woman to hold the office of chief minister in the Jammu and Kashmir.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She formed a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir jointly with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She resigned in June 2018 after the BJP withdrew from the coalition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mufti was the president of the PDP and was a member of the Indian parliament, representing Anantnag in the 16th Lok Sabha before she was sworn in as the chief minister of the Jammu and Kashmir. She also represented Anantnag in the 14th Lok Sabha (2004–09)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and has also been a Leader of Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

Early life

She is the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Gulshan Ara,<ref>Gulshan Ara hugs her daughter Mehbooba Mufti after the oath ceremony at Raj Bhawan in Jammu on Monday. -Excelsior/Rakesh – Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K. Dailyexcelsior.com. Retrieved on 28 August 2019.</ref> born in 1959 in Akhran Nowpora, J&K, India. She graduated in English literature from Government College for Women in Jammu,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and has a law degree from the University of Kashmir.<ref>Mehbooba Mufti (JKPDP):Constituency – Anantnag (Jammu & Kashmir) – Affidavit Information of Candidate. Myneta.info. Retrieved on 28 August 2019.</ref><ref name="NY Times Article on Mehbooba">Template:Cite news</ref> Post 1989, she shifted to N. Delhi and joined the Bombay Mercantile Bank, after which she worked with East West Airlines, before moving back to J&K. Her ex-husband is a political analyst, an animal-rights activist, and was briefly with National Conference party.<ref name="Javed Iqbal Shah" /> She has two daughters, Iltija and Irtiqa.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Political career

When elections for the state assembly were held in 1996, Mehbooba became one of the most popular members elected from Bijbehara on an Indian National Congress ticket.<ref name="www.oneindia.com 2019">Template:Cite web</ref> Her father had returned to the Congress, which he had left in 1987, angry at the alliance that party had formed with its traditional rival in the state, the National Conference.<ref name="India Today 2016">Template:Cite web</ref> She later served as the leader of the opposition in the assembly, taking on the government of chief minister Farooq Abdullah with asperity.<ref name="Desk 2017">Template:Cite web</ref>

She resigned her assembly seat and went on to contest the parliamentary elections in 1999 from Srinagar, where she lost to incumbent member Omar Abdullah. She won the Pahalgam seat in the state assembly from South Kashmir, defeating Rafi Ahmed Mir, when assembly elections were held again in 2002. She was elected to the Lok Sabha from Anantnag seat in 2004 and 2014.<ref name="www.oneindia.com 2019"/> She defeated Mirza Mehboob Beg who was the incumbent MP in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.

After her father's death in January 2016, when he was heading the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, she took forward the same alliance with Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the second time the BJP and the PDP formed a government in Jammu and Kashmir.<ref>Mehbooba Mufti sworn in as Jammu & Kashmir's first woman chief minister. Times of India (3 April 2016)</ref><ref>Mehbooba Mufti takes over Jammu & Kashmir reins. Indianexpress.com (4 April 2016). Retrieved on 28 August 2019.</ref><ref>Mehbooba Mufti To Take Oath As Chief Minister. Ndtv.com (31 March 2016). Retrieved on 28 August 2019.</ref> On 4 April 2016, she took the oath and became the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

On 25 June 2016, she won an Assembly seat in a by-election in Anantnag with the highest margin in any recent elections there and thereafter focussed on settling of Rohingyas.<ref>Mehbooba Mufti wins Anantnag by elections by 12 thousand votes. Jagran.com (25 June 2016). Retrieved on 28 August 2019.</ref>

On 19 June 2018, she resigned as chief minister of Kashmir.<ref name=aljazeera-19Jun18>Template:Cite news</ref> Her government had been an alliance between the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP, but there was a rift in the alliance in February 2018, when two BJP ministers expressed public support for a man who was alleged to have raped and killed an eight-year-old girl in Kathua District.<ref name=aljazeera-19Jun18/> The BJP's National General Secretary, Ram Madhav, announced the end of the alliance between the BJP and the PDP,<ref name=aljazeera-19Jun18/> and said that it was because of the deteriorating security situation.<ref name=aljazeera-19Jun18/><ref name=hindustantimes-21Jun18>Template:Cite news</ref> Mehbooba and the state government had tried suspending security operations for Ramadan, but the militants had not reciprocated,<ref name=hindustantimes-21Jun18/> and 30 people were killed during the ceasefire.<ref name=aljazeera-19Jun18/> So the BJP withdrew from the alliance with the PDP so that the Indian government could get tough with the militants.<ref name=hindustantimes-21Jun18/> When the alliance between the PDP and the BJP ended, Mehbooba resigned as chief minister.<ref name=aljazeera-19Jun18/> Mehbooba said "the muscular policy will not work in Kashmir".<ref name=aljazeera-19Jun18/>

She contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag seat but lost it to Hasnain Masoodi of National Conference,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and later also lost the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Anantanag - Rajouri seat to Mian Altaf Ahmed Larvi of National Conference [1] with 2.3 lakh votes.

Detention

On 5 August 2019, she was detained by the Central government.<ref name=":0" /> Her daughter Iltija Mufti took over her mother's Twitter account on the 46th day of detention.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In November, Iltija Mufti wrote a letter to the Srinagar Deputy Commissioner to shift her mother to a place better equipped for the valley's winter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In February 2020 she was further detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was released on 13 October 2020.<ref name="released">Template:Cite web</ref>

On 25 November 2020, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti was detained by Jammu and Kashmir Police and was not allowed to visit South Kashmir's Pulwama to meet the family of senior PDP leader Waheed Para, who was arrested by the National Investigating Agency earlier that week.Template:Citation needed

Mufti said that her daughter Iltija Mufti has also been placed under house arrest.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Mehbooba Mufti ministry (2016–2018)

External links

• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
• State Assembly hall security remove opposition People's Democratic Party
• Template:Cite news ("Buffeted by Insurgency and Dissent within Her Party, She Needs All the Help She Can Get from a Reluctant Centre.") indiatoday.intoday.on 4 May 2017

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