Know your PDP ministers

Abdul Rehman Veeri (59)

Abdul Rehman Veeri is the senior-most PDP leader and represents south Kashmir’s Bijbehara constituency of Anantnag district. Veeri got elected for the fourth consecutive term from Bijbehara in 2014. He was first elected in the by-elections in 1999 after Mehbooba Mufti resigned from the Assembly and the Congress to float the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Veeri was re-elected in 2002, 2008 and 2014. In the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government, he was Minister for Horticulture, Haj and Auqaf.

Haseeb Drabu (54)

The noted economist joined the PDP in 2013 and won the 2014 Assembly elections from the Rajpora constituency in south Kashmir. He was the main interlocutor for the PDP for government formation with the BJP. Drabu was Finance Minister in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led government. He was associated with Mufti Sayeed since 2003 when Mufti appointed him as the economic adviser to the government. He had started his career with the Planning Commission. He was part of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. Drabu was appointed chairman of J&K Bank in June 2004 and continued till June 2010.

Naeem Akhter (64)

Naeem Akhter took voluntary retirement as a bureaucrat in 2008. He immediately joined the PDP and became the chief spokesman for the party. He has a long association with the Muftis. He was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s private secretary when he was the Union Tourism Minister in the late 1980s. When Mufti was the Chief Minister in 2002, Akhter was his Principal Secretary. He was the Education Minister in the previous PDP-BJP government.

Abdul Haq Khan (63)

Abdul Haq Khan was re-elected from the Lolab constituency in frontier Kupwara district in 2014. Born at Lolab, Khan is a law graduate and started taking part in social activities when he was a student of SP College in 1974. He debuted in politics in 1983 and joined the People’s Conference. In 2002, he contested the elections as an Independent candidate and later joined the PDP in 2003. He won the 2008 Assembly elections from Lolab. In the Mufti government, he was Minister for Rural Development.

Imran Ansari (43)

Imran, son of a senior Shia cleric and PDP leader late Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, was Minister for Information Technology in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government. Imran won the Pattan seat in north Kashmir with a huge margin in 2014. Imran, a first-time legislator, is a postgraduate in political science. He is also a member of the PDP’s highest decision-making body.

Zulfikar Ali (46)

Zulfikar Ali was re-elected for the second time from the Darhal constituency in Rajouri district in 2014. Ali is a postgraduate in law and management. He joined the PDP is 2003. He was Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution in the Mufti-led PDP-BJP government.

Ghulam Nabi Lone (60)

Ghulam Nabi Lone, a law graduate, was Agriculture Minister in the Mufti-led government. He defeated National Conference stalwart Abdul Rahim Rather, who represented the Charar-e-Sharief constituency in 2014. Lone, former Legislative Council Chairman, had unsuccessfully contested the 2008 elections as a PDP candidate. He finished second in the 2008 Assembly elections.

Basharat Bukhari (54)

Basharat Bukhari, a former well-known broadcaster, joined the PDP in 2003 and was elected to the Legislative Council during the Mufti-led PDP-Congress coalition government. He got elected from the Sangrama constituency in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district in 2008 and 2014. Bukhari is a graduate and also has a diploma in mass communication and journalism. He was Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Relief and Rehabilitation in the previous PDP-BJP government.

Asiea Naqash (44)

Asiea Naqash, a law graduate, was Minister of State for Health and Medical Education in the Mufti-led government. She was elected from the Hazratbal constituency in Srinagar district in 2014 and it was for the first time after 1957 that the NC lost this seat. Asiea is sister-in-law of PDP MP and senior leader Tariq Hameed Karra. She joined the PDP in 2002 and is the only woman face of the PDP in the Lower House.

Farooq Andrabi (57)

Farooq Andrabi, maternal uncle of Mehbooba Mufti, is the new face in Mehbooba’s team. Andrabi had defeated Congress stalwart and former minister GAMir from Dooru in 2014. He practised law before joining politics. Andrabi had lost to Mir in 2008 by around 6,000 votes.

Zahoor Mir (44)

He is the second new face in Mehbooba Mufti’s team. He joined politics after his father and sitting Pampore MLA Abdul Aziz Mir was killed by gunmen in 2002. Mir was re-elected in 2014 from Pampore.

(Compiled by Majid Jahangir)