Thaindian News

Srinagar, July 11 (IANS) A woman politician who has survived at least five assassination attempts was among the 13 new ministers inducted in the Jammu and Kashmir government Saturday.
With this, the strength of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s six-month-old coalition has gone up to 23.

Governor N.N. Vohra administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers, who include seven from the National Conference, six from the Congress and one from junior coalition partner, the National Democratic Party.

Sakina Itoo of the National Conference, the only woman minister in Abdullah’s cabinet, has assassination attempts by alleged Lashker-e-Taiba militants. Itoo was the tourism minister in the National Conference government 1996-2002.

Her father Wali Mohammed Itoo, a National Conference veteran, was gunned down by militants in 1994.

Besides Sakina, the others inducted in the cabinet are Qamar Ali Aakhoon, Agha Roohullah, A.G. Malik and R.S. Chib, (National Confernece), Raman Balla and G.M. Saroori (Congress) and Ghulam Hassan Mir of the National Democratic Party.

Those who took oath as ministers of state are Aijaz Khan, Manohar Lal Sharma and Shabir Hussain Khan (Congress), Nasir Sogami and Javed Dar (National Conference).

The cabinet expansion came after an agreement reached between the National Conference and the Congress - the principal ruling alliance partners.

Abdullah and nine cabinet ministers - five from the Congress and four from the National Conference - took oath Jan 5 after the two parties stitched together a coalition following the fractured verdict in the elections held late last year.