Daijiworld Media Network - Srinagar

Srinagar, Nov 5: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was on Thursday re-elected as the president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a fifth term.

According to a party press release, the PDP's electoral college unanimously re-elected Mehbooba Mufti to the post. The statement said the unanimous support reflected the belief that she had given more to the party than she had ever received from it.

The proposal for her re-election was moved by senior party leader and former minister Abdul Rehman Veeri, while senior leader Mohammad Khursheed Aalam seconded it.

All members of the electoral college present at the meeting unanimously supported her candidature. Members of the electoral college from Jammu also participated in the proceedings online and extended their unanimous support to her re-election, the party said.

Following her re-election, Mehbooba Mufti said people who had suffered for years needed healing rather than political victories.

"Those who are hurt do not need victories. They need healing. My heart is heavy and full at the same time. I am grateful. You have trusted me for the fifth time, and I do not take that lightly," she said.

"But I also carry the pain of people who have given so much and been heard so little," she added.

Referring to the uncertainty among young people, she said their question about whether tomorrow would be different from yesterday was one that she continued to hear and feel.

"This is the party we built together, to answer our people's pain, so that no one has to die searching for answers," she said.

Reflecting on the suffering of families who had lost their loved ones, Mehbooba Mufti recalled visiting neighbourhoods where mothers continued to keep lamps lit for sons who never returned and meeting fathers who had carried numerous coffins but received very few answers.