Jammu Kashmir : Akhran baby to CM chair

Villagers of Akhran never thought in dreams that a baby of simple house will become chief minister of Jammu Kashmir.  Taking baby steps in south Kashmir’s Akhran village to big steps toward civil secretariat, chief minister designate Mehbooba Mufti has come a long way. Mehbooba’s maternal grandfather Nazim, owned a house in this sleepy hamlet and it was here where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President’s mother gave birth to her. The house is now jointly owned by Mehbooba’s two maternal uncles, Muhammad Shafi Farooqui and former MLA and former deputy speaker of Legislative Assembly, Sartaj Madani. Mehboobas maternal aunt  Hanifa Akhtar, says she remembers the days when the compound of their house used to become chirpier with her daughter Amira Firdous, Mehbooba and Mehbooba’s young aunt Shamima playing dolls, ‘teacher-teacher’ and a number of indigenous and traditional Kashmiri games like ‘Saz-e-Loung’. “She almost spent her entire childhood here and when she grew up a little and went to school, she would come to visit us when school used to break for weekends and summer and winter holidays,” Hanifa says working in her kitchen garden. “She was different than her two sisters Mehmooda and Rubiya or even her brother Tassaduq.”

Old villagers says that they remembers the childhood days of Mehbooba who he thought was a serious child and serious about her studies. She was intelligent and did her LLB from the University of Kashmir after studying first at Islamia School Bijbehara and then Presentation Convent in Srinagar.While Akhran is gearing up to see Mehbooba in the new role, Bijbehara, her hometown, seems subdued to the development. However, her paternal family seems excited.