Among many candidates who are contesting in the ongoing District Development Council (DDC) from the north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, one of them is a resident of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). She is contesting elections from Drugmulla constituency.
Somaya Latif belonged to Muzaffarabad which is a part of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PaK). She shifted to the Indian side of the LoC along with her husband who was a terrorist after the government of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir led by Omar Abdullah launched a rehabilitation policy for all those people who crossed over the border back in the 90s. She got married to a former Kashmiri terrorist when he was in Muzaffarabad for training.
Latif is one of 11 candidates who are contesting the ongoing District Development Council (DDC) election from the Drugmulla constituency.
She said that her decision to contest elections isn’t just a personal desire but rather many people requested her to contest the election. She has been working in a scheme under the government titled ‘SRLM’. During this scheme, she had to do a lot of fieldwork which made her aware of the sufferings of common people. She is hopeful that people will vote for her and she will emerge victorious in the elections.
She said that if elected then she will focus on the Pakistani brides who have crossed the border for marriage and also for the local people. She wishes to represent these brides and raise issues in the public domain which concern them.
She has made “Laptop” her election symbol. She urged the voters to vote for her and assured that if she wins the DDC elections, then she will fulfill all possible and legit wishes of the people in her constituency. The Drugmulla constituency for which she is contesting elections is going for polls on December 07.
Meanwhile, District Election Officer (DEO), said that only Somaya Latif is a candidate from across the border who is contesting the elections in the whole district. Two Pakistani brides contested the Panchayati elections held last year. One of those two candidates was from Langate and the another from Khumriyal.
