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| Mehbooba steals show at Pugwash; outsmarts Omar | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Apr 4
PDP Chief, Mehbooa Mufti, reportedly outwitted her political rival, Omar Abullah, President of the National Conference, during their recent visit to Islamabad where the two attended the Pugwash Conference. The two had gone to Islamabad mainly to draw mileage in their strongholds in the Kashmir valley during the ensuing Assembly election and not for making any valuable contribution in the Pugwash Conference, political observers here have felt.
Mehbooba reportedly stole the limelight when she met the co-chairman PPP, Asif Ali Zardari,and succeeded in addressing a joint press conference with him. Not only this she had a meeting with Nawaz Sharief,a former Prime Minister and chief of PML(N) and Sardar Abdula Qayoom Khan,a former President and Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir.She seemed to have hit the nail when it is hot by announcing that Nawaz Sharief wished to visit Shopian fromwhere his ancestors had migrated to Pakistan.This announcement is said to have caused excitement among people in south Kashmir.
When Omar Abdullah visited Islamabad in March 2006 he had met President Gen. Parvez Musharraf and other political leaders.However,he felt uneasy with the way Ms Mehbooba outwitted him by having series of interactions with those who matter in Pakistan.With the result Omar Abdullah beat a hasty retreat and returned to Jammu.However,his his preference to adopt a defensive role is likely to pay dividends to the National Conference in the Jammu region.
Though Mehbooba’s plea in favour of joint mechanism on Kashmir may cost her party dearly in the Jammu region with BJP and other political parties demanding legal action against her,she has played her cards well because she knows that her party’s base is in Kashmir and in Jammu there is nothing for her to gloat over.
Her meetings with prominent political leaders in Pakistan,her announcements at a press conference and her body language during her tour in Pakistan seem to have enlarged her political frame in the Kashmir valley.This could help her party to achieve better performance in the 2008 poll than in 2002 election. |
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