The Hindu : National : Former Hurriyat leader joins PDP

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Former Hurriyat leader joins PDP

Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR: A former leader of the Hurriyat Conference faction headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and a close aide of the Mirwaiz dynasty, Yaqub Vakil, has joined the Jammu & Kashmir ruling coalition ally People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

He joined the party in the presence of PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, party president Mehbooba Mufti and other senior leaders. Mr. Vakil, who started his political career in 1964 as an active member of the Awami Action Committee (AAC), remained Personal Assistant, Public Relations Officer and Press Secretary of Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq till his assassination. Later he became one of the founder-members of the Hurriyat Conference. He served as secretary to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq for 15 years till 2005 when he resigned from the Awami Action Committee and Hurriyat Conference.

Soon after joining the PDP, Mr. Vakil said the party’s pro-people policies and the work done by the coalition government under the leadership of Mr. Sayeed had motivated him to join the party fold. “I would do my best to contribute to the collective good of the people.”

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