US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI4299

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 07 NEW DELHI 004299 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/B 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, IN, Kashmir 
SUBJECT: BIOS OF KASHMIR-RELATED LEADERS -- PART 2 
 
Classified By: A/Polcouns Matt Boyse for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) This is the second of a three-part biographic report 
compiling information and impressions A/Polcouns gained from 
contact with Indian Kashmir-related politicians, government 
officials, separatists, academics, journalists, NGO 
activists, and others during a 2002-2005 assignment at 
Embassy New Delhi.  The contents of this message, which 
includes bios on the individuals below, will be posted on the 
Embassy Siprnet site: 
 
-- Prof. Abdul Ghani BHAT, Executive Member, All-Parties 
Hurriyat Conference 
-- Moulvi Abbas ANSARI, Executive Member, All-Parties 
Hurriyat Conference 
-- Bilal LONE, Executive Member, All-Parties Hurriyat 
Conference 
-- Shabir Ahmad SHAH, Chairman, J&K Democratic Freedom Party 
-- Yasin MALIK, President, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front 
(JKLF) 
-- Syed Ali Shah GEELANI, President, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat 
-- Sajjad LONE, President, People,s Conference 
-- Narinder Nath VOHRA, GOI Interlocutor on J&K 
-- Muzaffar Hussain BEIG, Minister for Finance, Planning and 
Development, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, J&K 
-- Peerzada Mohammad SAYEED, J&K Minister for Rural 
Development 
 
2.  (U) The biographies for the foregoing follow below: 
 
Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat 
---------------------- 
 
Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat 
(Phonetic: BuT) 
 
Executive Member, All-Parties Hurriyat Conference 
 
Addressed as: Prof. Bhat 
 
(C) Former Chairman of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference 
(APHC), Prof. Bhat (68) is its most articulate spokesman and 
"elder statesman."  He has little political following in the 
Valley, but derives his influence because he is so erudite in 
English and is very well educated.  He is friendly and open 
to contact with the Embassy.  Favorably disposed towards the 
United States, he has been critical of many USG policies, but 
is careful about proclaiming them publicly.  For example, he 
is pleased that the Taliban is no longer governing 
Afghanistan, and never liked Saddam Hussain (for the 
latter,s support of India in the Kashmir matter), but has 
been critical of our Iraq policy. 
 
(C) Bhat is President of the Muslim Conference, an APHC 
constituent organization he revived in 1998 after it had been 
abandoned by the late Sheikh Abdullah in the 1940s.  Bhat 
became a public figure in 1986 when he was fired from his 
position as Professor and Head of the Department of Persian 
at Baramulla College on charges of corruption and for raising 
the banner of revolt against the J&K government.  After his 
dismissal, he formed a union called the Muslim Employees 
Front, which later merged into a broader alliance -- the 
Muslim United Front -- that contested the (flawed) 
Legislative Assembly elections against Farooq Abdullah,s 
National Conference (NC) in 1987.  Bhat was jailed in 1987 
for agitating against those rigged polls by the ruling NC and 
its Congress ally. 
 
(C) There has been a perceptible change in Prof. Bhat,s 
political views in the last several years as he has evolved 
from a pro-Islamabad hardliner advocating Kashmir,s 
accession to Pakistan to an outspoken opponent of 
pro-Pakistan hardliner SAS Geelani.  An advocate of dialogue, 
he took part in the Hurriyat,s talks with DPM LK Advani in 
2004 and supports the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Bus. 
 
(U) Prof. Bhat has been arrested several times since 1985. 
In 1990, he was arrested and imprisoned for three years. 
Terrorists assassinated his brother as a warning. 
 
(U) Bhat was born in 1933 in the village of Botingu, near 
Sopore, where he received his early education.  He holds an 
MA Persian from Aligarh Muslim University and also studied 
law (and practiced law in 1962-63).  He does not have travel 
documents and has only been outside India only twice in his 
life, a visit to Kathmandu to attend a Pugwash Conference in 
December 2004 and to Pakistan in June 2005.   He speaks 
excellent English. 
 
Moulvi Abbas ANSARI 
------------------- 
 
Moulvi Abbas ANSARI 
(Phonetic: an-SAw-Ree) 
 
Executive Member, All-Parties Hurriyat Conference 
Addressed as:  Moulvi Ansari 
 
(C) Moulvi Ansari (70) is the most prominent Shia separatist 
in the Kashmiri Valley.  Chairman of moderate faction of 
Hurriyat from the time of its split in September 2003 until 
July 2004, when he resigned to improve the chances for APHC 
unity under the leadership of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, he was 
widely considered a weak leader. He has very limited appeal 
in Srinagar.  He has been open to contact with Embassy 
officers, but is not comfortable speaking in English and 
usually lets others do the talking. 
 
(C) Ansari is Founder President of the Anjuman-e-Itehadul 
Muslimeen, a religio-political group dominated by Shiite 
Muslims in the Valley, a constituent of the Hurriyat, and 
Chief Patron of the J&K Liberation Council.  He entered 
politics in Kashmir upon his return from Najaf (Iraq) where 
he reportedly studied Islamic law at premier Shiite 
institutions during the period 1963-71. 
 
(U) He understands English, but prefers to speak Urdu and 
Kashmiri or to let others do the talking.  In official 
meetings he dresses like a religious Shia leader. 
 
Bilal LONE 
---------- 
 
Bilal LONE 
(Phonetic: Lone) 
 
Executive Member, All-Parties Hurriyat Conference 
 
Addressed as: Mr. Lone 
 
(C) Bilal Lone, in his mid-forties, is the oldest son of 
Abdul Ghani Lone, the legendary Kashmiri separatist.  Along 
with his younger brother, Sajjad, Bilal took over the 
leadership of the People,s Conference, after their father,s 
assassination on May 21, 2002, but they became estranged in 
2004 over the struggle for his legacy.  Bilal is very 
friendly and open to contact with Embassy officers, and 
favorably disposed towards the United States. 
 
(C) Bilal has been in an awkward political situation after 
his mother endorsed his brother Sajjad as People,s 
Conference (PC) President, but the moderate faction of the 
All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) recognizes Bilal,s 
faction of People,s Conference as its constituent member. 
This has produced a deep split in the PC, and in the Lone 
family, and the brothers are reportedly no longer on speaking 
terms. 
 
(C) Bilal is one of the "four musketeers," the top leaders of 
the moderate APHC (along with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Prof AG 
Bhat, and Maulvi Ansari).  He hates pro-Pakistan hardliner 
SAS Geelani, whom he holds at least partly responsible for 
his father,s assassination, and for the former, severe 
interpretation of Islam, and refers to him regularly in 
profane terms. 
 
(C) The PC is the most inclined of any of the APHC or other 
separatist groups to enter the political process with India, 
having decided to participate by proxy in the landmark 2002 
State Legislative Assembly elections.  Bilal,s has political 
support in the Kupwara district of the Valley. 
 
(C) Bilal is a very liberal Muslim who likes the good life. 
A political moderate and a realist who advocates dialogue but 
who has an unusually strong Kashmiri identity and sense of 
wrongs dealt to Kashmiris by the Indian state. 
 
(C) Lone spends much time on his business interests, one of 
which imports used clothes from the U.S. for sale in India. 
Bilal, his wife, and two children live in a very large house 
in an outlying area of Srinagar, adjacent to the equally 
large house in which his brother Sajjad resides.  Bilal 
travels on an Indian passport.  He speaks very good English. 
 
Shabir Ahmad SHAH 
----------------- 
 
Shabir Ahmad SHAH 
(Phonetic: Saw-h) 
 
Chairman, Jammu & Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party 
Addressed as: Mr. Shah 
 
(C) Often called the "Nelson Mandela of Kashmir" for his long 
struggle for Kashmiri independence and nearly 20 years in 
prison, Shabir (50) has become a moderate since his release 
in 1994.  The first separatist leader to enter into talks 
with India,s first Kashmir Interlocutor, KC Pant, in 2001, 
Shabir has suffered for his moderation by being branded by 
anti-India Kashmiris as "nave," because that dialogue 
produced no results.  He remains a player in the Valley 
because of his name recognition and long struggle against 
India, but is not a constituent member of the main Kashmiri 
separatist group, the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). 
 He is open to contact with Embassy officers, and looks to 
the US to press India to compromise with the Kashmiris. 
 
(C) In conversations, Shabir is longwinded, prone to dwell on 
ancient history, and disinclined to take discussion beyond 
the Kashmir issue.  (Unlike most major separatists) he also 
immediately informs the press after meetings with Embassy 
officers, in order to demonstrate to the reading public that 
foreign diplomats take him seriously. 
 
(C) Shabir continues to advocate dialogue with India, but on 
the condition that he receives a formal invitation from New 
Delhi, which he is persuaded has treated him shabbily.  He 
made a major compromise by accepting Pant,s invitation for 
dialogue, and bitterly resents having been "hung out to dry" 
by the GOI, which has contributed to his loss of influence. 
He remains a powerful speaker (in Urdu). 
 
(C) After initial reluctance, Shabir and his first political 
party, the "Peoples League," joined the All-Parties Hurriyat 
Conference (APHC) in 1995, but he has always had a difficult 
relationship with other separatists.  He sees himself as the 
Kashmiri leader who has suffered the longest for the cause, 
and regards many of the Hurriyat leaders as "Johnnie come 
latelies," or lacking leadership qualities. 
 
(C) He took a previous risk for dialogue in 1996 when the 
APHC refused to meet Ambassador Wisner in Srinagar (Shabir 
was the only separatist leader who met him).  This 
exacerbated differences with the APHC and led him to quit the 
group (he may have been expelled).  This led to splits in his 
party, which caused him to launch the J&K Democratic Freedom 
Party in 1998.  Because of this and his bad experiences with 
KC Pant, and PM VP Singh whom he also met, Shabir is 
unusually sensitive about obtaining assurances about GOI 
intentions before he will resume any talks with New Delhi. 
 
(U) Shabir was married in 1997.  His wife is a medical 
doctor.  New Delhi has refused to issue him a passport, which 
has prevented him from traveling abroad.  Although he 
understands English, he prefers to speak Urdu and Kashmiri. 
 
Yasin MALIK 
----------- 
 
Yasin MALIK 
(Phonetic: Ma-lick) 
 
President, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front 
 
Addressed as: Mr. Malik 
 
(C) President of the oldest and most influential individual 
Kashmiri separatist organization, Jammu and Kashmir 
Liberation Front (JKLF), Yasin (39) is a former militant who 
has renounced violence in favor of dialogue and peaceful 
agitation for an independent Kashmir.  While a leader of the 
armed struggle, he has killed in the name of Kashmir, but has 
become an advocate of non-violence since coming in from the 
cold.  He is open to contact with Embassy officers. 
 
(C) From Srinagar,s congested and poor Maisuma district (a 
hotbed of separatist sentiment often referred to as &the 
Kashmir Gaza8), Malik joined the Kashmir independence 
struggle as a teenager, first with the Islamic Students, 
League (1985-1987).  He was one of the polling agents for 
Mohammad Yusuf Shah (alias Syed Salahauddin), who ran for a 
seat in the J&K Legislative Assembly in the 1987 state 
elections, but whose loss as a result of rigging caused him 
to take up arms against India.  Shah later became the Supreme 
Commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen and the head of the 
Muzaffarabad-based United Jihad Council. 
(C) After the 1987 polls, Malik was imprisoned for a short 
time.  Following his release, he and four friends crossed 
over to Pakistani Kashmir where he received small arms 
training and joined the JKLF, headed by Amanullah Khan. 
Returning to the Valley in 1988, he began a full-fledged 
armed struggle, becoming JKLF Chief Commander after the death 
of Ashfaq Majeed in a grenade explosion.  Yasin was arrested 
on August 6, 1990 and was released from prison for years 
later, after which he has eschewed violence.  The JKLF is 
considerably weakened since the early 1990s.  It has split 
and suffered defections of key leaders and advisors in the 
Valley, as well as among supporters and sympathizers abroad. 
It is not possible to say with complete assurance, which of 
the JKLF organizations in Pakistani Kashmir and abroad accept 
his leadership. 
 
(C) In 1995, Malik developed serious differences with 
Amanullah Khan, after which he split the Valley-based 
organization off from the Pakistan-based JKLF.  He 
reluctantly joined the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference 
(APHC), but has always had an uneasy relationship with its 
leaders, partly for ideological reasons (he favors an 
independent Kashmir), but also because he has a difficult 
personality and thinks he has suffered more for the cause 
than other.  After the Hurriyat split into moderate and 
hardline factions in September 2003, Yasin kept out of both. 
He also opposed Hurriyat dialogue with DPM LK Advani during 
the NDA government in 2004 and has focused on a campaign to 
gather signatures which calls for Kashmiris to be involved in 
the peace talks between India and Pakistan.  He now as some 
1.5 million, which he exhibited in April 2005 at the Gandhi 
Peace Foundation in Delhi, impressive undertaking which is 
the only clear evidence by any Kashmiri separatist of 
grassroots support. 
 
(C) Malik has become increasingly bitter in recent years, on 
the grounds that Kashmiris are being ignored by India and 
Pakistan, and that President Musharraf has distanced himself 
from the Kashmiri cause.  Following an unsatisfactory meeting 
with Musharraf in New Delhi in April 2005, Yasin announced 
that if Kashmiris are not be involved in the peace process, 
he would launch a non-violent movement in both sides of 
Kashmir.  He is also annoyed about the PDP (Mufti Mohammad 
Sayeed and Mehboba Sayeed) taking credit for the 
Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Bus. 
 
(C) Moody and temperamental, it is often difficult to have a 
dialogue with Malik because of his gloomy personality.  A 
bachelor, Yasin has had a series of health problems, a result 
of his imprisonment, including kidney problems facial palsy. 
This requires him to be in New Delhi regularly for treatment. 
 He speaks good English and considers himself something of an 
intellectual, despite his lack of formal education (he claims 
his dream job is to be a headmaster at a boarding school). 
 
(C) Born on April 3, 1966, Yasin was interested in a career 
as a model before the rigged 1987 elections changed his life 
direction, according to one journalist who knows him well. 
He has traveled to U.S. at least twice, ostensibly for 
medical reasons, but he has also engaged in separatist 
politics there.  New Delhi has not renewed his passport.  He 
smokes quite heavily and is a vegetarian.  He speaks very 
good English. 
 
Syed Ali Shah GEELANI 
--------------------- 
 
Syed Ali Shah GEELANI 
(Phonetic: Gee-Law-Nee) 
 
President, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat 
 
Addressed as:  Mr. Geelani 
 
(C) The most rigid and uncompromising pro-Pakistan Kashmiri 
separatist, Geelani (76) split off from the All-Parties 
Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in September 2003 to form the 
Tehreek-e-Hurriyat after differences with the Jamaat-i-Islami 
(JI) and more moderate APHC leaders over strategy and tactics 
became too great.  He has spent more than ten years in 
different prisons inside and outside J&K for espousing 
Kashmir,s accession to/merger with Pakistan.  The Embassy 
has maintained a "no contact" policy with him since 2001 
because of his continuing ties with terrorist groups in the 
Valley and his refusal to renounce violence.  Most major 
Embassies follow our lead, but a small number of human rights 
and NGO activists meet him. 
 
(C) The most hawkish of all non-militant separatists, Geelani 
calls for the Kashmir issue to be resolved by implementation 
of UNSC Resolutions from the 1940s and early 1950s.  He 
opposes all bilateral dialogue with New Delhi, which he says 
is not sincere in resolving the Kashmir issue, on the grounds 
that unless Pakistan is involved, no tangible results can be 
expected.  His opposition to all participation in the 
electoral process split the Hurriyat in 2003 after moderates 
(Mirwaiz, Prof Bhat, Bilal Lone and Maulvi Ansari) rejected 
his demand for the expulsion of the People,s Conference for 
participating in the 2002 state elections by proxy. 
 
(C) Geelani joined JI in 1950, and was first arrested in 
August 1962 for separatist activities.  During his13-month 
imprisonment, his father died; Indian authorities, refusal 
to allow him to attend the funeral cemented his anti-India 
views. 
 
(C) Geelani has in the past accepted India,s sovereignty 
over J&K, contesting the Legislative Assembly elections 
thrice (1972, 1977 and 1987) and winning all, the first two 
on a Jamaat ticket and the third as candidate of the Muslim 
United Front (MUF).  He resigned from the Assembly in 1989 
after the insurgency began. 
 
(C) As India and Pakistan have continued their 
rapproachement, Geelani has become increasingly angry with 
President Musharraf for allegedly "ignoring the core issue of 
Kashmir."  Geelani feels betrayed, as he is determined to go 
down in the history books as the one Kashmiri who has refused 
to compromise with India. 
 
(C) Geelani was born in Zoori Munz village, in Bandipora 
(north Baramulla District) on September 27, 1929.  He suffers 
from a variety of kidney and heart ailments, a conseqence of 
the more than 10 years he has spent in prison for espousing 
the cause of accession to Pakistan.  The Indian government 
saved his life in 2003, flying him on a government plane from 
prison in Ranchi, Bihar to Mumbai for special medical 
treatment.  His English is good.  He has two sons and several 
daughters.  One son is studying medicine in Islamabad, 
Pakistan. His Indian passport has been impounded.  A 
conservative Muslim, he prefers not to shake hands with women. 
 
Sajjad LONE 
----------- 
 
Sajjad LONE 
(Phonetic: Lone) 
 
President, People,s Conference 
 
Addressed as: Mr. Lone 
 
(C) Along with his older brother, Bilal, Sajjad Lone (38) 
jointly took over the leadership of the separatist People,s 
Conference (PC) party after their father, the legendary 
Kashmiri separatist Abdul Ghani Lone, was assassinated by 
hardline pro-Pakistan terrorists on May 21, 2002.  The two 
brothers then engaged in an intense struggle over who will 
inherit his father,s mantle, which Sajjad won after his 
mother endorsed him in 2003 as his father,s true heir. 
Sajjad is very friendly and open to contact with Embassy 
officers, and is favorably disposed towards the United 
States.  A liberal Muslim, he has moderate views on lifestyle 
and politics and advocates dialogue with India.  He is the 
most modern thinking Kashmiri separatist. 
 
(C) Although Sajjad inherited his father,s legacy, the 
moderate faction of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference 
(APHC) recognizes Bilal as PC President.  This has cemented 
the deep split in Lone family, and the brothers are 
reportedly not on speaking terms. 
 
(C) The Hurriyat split in September 2003 on the issue of 
People,s Conference,s proxy participation in 2002 landmark 
state elections.  Hardliners led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani 
demanded that the PC and the brothers be expelled from the 
APHC, but the moderates (Mirwaiz, Prof Bhat, Maulvi Ansari 
and the Lones) resisted, whereupon Geelani took his group out 
of the Hurriyat, and it has remained deeply split ever since. 
 Sajjad,s popularity is limited to pockets in the Kupwara 
district in North Kashmir. 
(C) He also maintains contact with Indian officials like 
former RAW Chief and Vajpayee PMO Kashmir Officer on Special 
Duty AS Dulat and Kashmir Interlocutor NN Vohra. 
 
(C) Before entering politics, Sajjad had business interests 
in Dubai.  He still spends considerable time on his business. 
 He studied in the UK, where he obtained a degree in 
Psychology.  His wife, Asma, is a Pakistani national and the 
daughter of politician Amanullah Khan, who heads the 
separatist JKLF in Pakistani Kashmir.  The marriage is 
reportedly a love marriage.  The two have twins, born in 
2004.  She spends a lot of time in Pakistan.  The two live in 
an imposing house in the outskirts of Srinagar, adjacent to 
an equally large house occupied by his brother. 
 
(C) Both Sajjad and his wife, Asma, have intellectual 
personalities and have written for Pakistani and Indian 
newspapers on the Kashmir issue.  Unlike Bilal, he is very 
out of favor with Islamabad, and is not invited to Pakistan 
High Commission events. 
 
(U) Sajjad travels on an Indian passport.  He speaks 
excellent English. 
 
N. N. VOHRA 
----------- 
 
Narinder Nath VOHRA 
(Phonetic: VohRaa) 
 
GOI Interlocutor on Jammu & Kashmir (since February 2003) 
 
Addressed as: Mr. Vohra 
 
(C) After a long distinguished government career, former DPM 
Advani brought NN Vohra out of retirement in February 2003 to 
serve as Interlocutor on Jammu and Kashmir and to 
prepare/lead a dialogue with the Kashmiri separatists.  This 
vision has not materialized, after the All-Parties Hurriyat 
Conference (APHC) refused to deal with him, considering him 
to be &not senior enough8 and &not political,8 and 
causing him to become akin to Chief Kashmir Advisor to the 
Home Minister.  He is open to contact with the Embassy and 
does not stand on protocol (i.e. will receive a First 
Secretary). 
 
SIPDIS 
 
(C) Before his retirement, Vohra held many of the most 
important positions in the Indian civil service.  He came 
into prominence in the early 1990s when he was the most 
senior official in the Defense and Home Ministries, and after 
he headed the "Vohra Committee" appointed to investigate the 
nexus between politicians and criminals.  From 1997-98, he 
was Principal Secretary to PM IK Gujral.  He possesses a 
broad range of administrative experience and is well 
connected in the bureaucracy and politically.  He is also a 
former member of the National Security Advisory Board. 
 
(U) Vohra was born May 5, 1936 into an elite Punjabi Hindu 
family.  He holds a Master's degree from the University of 
Punjab.  Vohra received training in Development 
Administration at the Indian Institute of Public 
Administration, New Delhi.  He joined the Indian 
Administrative Service in 1959, and served his home (Punjab) 
cadre for over three and half decades.  Some of the positions 
he has held include: 
 
-- Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office: 
1997-98 
-- Director, India International Center: 1995-97 
-- Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs: 1993-94 
-- Secretary, Ministry of Defense: 1990-93 
-- Secretary, Department of Production Supply: 1989-90 
-- Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defense: 1986-89 
-- Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defense: 1985-86 
-- Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Government of 
Punjab: 1984-85 
-- On deputation to the World Health Organization: 1982-84 
-- Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare: 
1977-82 
-- Commissioner/Secretary, Housing & Local Government, Punjab 
1976-77 
-- Secretary, Urban Development, Punjab: 1973-76 
 
(C) Vohra,s wife, Usha, is also a distinguished civil 
servant.  He enjoys classical music, folk dances, and good 
literature.  He has traveled extensively throughout Europe, 
the Americas, and Asia.  He speaks excellent English, Hindi 
and Punjabi.  In conversations, he is prone to wander off 
topic, but is very well informed and shares information. 
 
Muzaffar Hussain BEIG 
--------------------- 
 
J&K Minister for Finance, Planning and Development, Law and 
Parliamentary Affairs 
 
(C) Beig (59) is the most powerful minister in Mufti,s 
Cabinet, who combines intellectual brilliance, worldliness, a 
reformist orientation, and close personal ties to Chief 
Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.  After receiving an LLM from 
Harvard Law School in 1974, he worked in the US for five 
years before returning to J&K.  He was a student leader, 
joining the separatist People,s Conference headed by the 
late Abdul Ghani Lone, and rising to become its Vice 
Chairman.  From 1985-87, he was Advocate General in J&K. 
Beig unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections in 
1998.  He joined People,s Democratic Party soon after and 
won a seat in the 2002 state Legislative Assembly polls from 
Baramulla.  His official residence, adjacent to the Grand 
Palace Hotel high above Gupkar Road in Srinagar, used to be a 
notorious detention center operated by the security forces in 
the early years of the insurgency.  His staff makes the most 
delicious fresh apple juice.  He was born on August 2, 1946. 
Divorced, he has a reputation in Srinagar as a man-about-town 
who enjoys the company of beautiful women.  He speaks 
excellent English 
 
Peerzada Mohammad SAYEED 
------------------------ 
 
Minister for Rural Development 
 
(C) President of J&K Congress Party, Sayeed (52) behaves like 
a traditional Congress machine politician, one who asks his 
staff to put on his socks and shoes for him.  He has been 
with Congress his entire career, beginning in 1968.  He was a 
Minister of State with the National Conference-Congress 
government in 1987.  In the 2002 state polls, he braved 
terrorist threats in the volatile Kokernag constituency in 
South Kashmir and was inducted into the Cabinet on account of 
his loyalty to the party.  Prior to his current appointment, 
he was a senior Vice President of the state unit of the 
Congress party.  His English is good. 
BLAKE