Mehbooba drops Haseeb Drabu from cabinet for saying Kashmir not political issue

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) while taking a tough stand on senior party leader and minister for finance Dr Haseeb A. Drabu’s assertion that Kashmir is not a political issue but “a society with social issues” has decided to drop him from the state Cabinet.

The party sources said that the PDP led by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, has already shot a letter to Governor N.N. Vohra, informing him about the decision. The decision, the party sources said, was taken soon after the Chief Minister came to Srinagar from Delhi and discussed the issue with her senior party leaders.

Drabu had made these remarks while speaking at a function in New Delhi at the weekend. Though he had later sought to clarify that he had said that Kashmir was not only a political issue but also a society with social issues and blamed “misreporting” on a “cub reporter” of a national news agency, the sources said that the party leadership assessed the video and audio coverage of his speech and found it contrary to his claim.