Search the Internet          Tips

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Getting Engaged

Mukhtar Ahmad & Chindu Sreedharan in Srinagar

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, one of Kashmir's most prominent religious heads, will get engaged to the daughter of a New York-based doctor shortly.

"The engagement should be in a couple of months," the 27-year-old Islamic priest told rediff.com.

And the marriage? "It hasn't been decided but, Inshallah, it will be next year," he said.

The lady in question, Sheeba, is a graduate now preparing to pursue her masters. Born to Dr Sibtain Masoodi, she is "around 23" and has two sisters.

"She is a Kashmiri," the mirwaiz said, "brought up in the US. It is an arranged marriage... and yes, the marriage will be in Kashmir."

Sheeba, sources said, had reached the valley in August 2000. She has been staying here since. She recently applied for her visa to be extended for another two months.

Dr Masoodi's eldest daughter is married to the son of Jammu and Kashmir Additional Chief Secretary Mohammad Shafi Pundit. His second daughter, Dr Nazish, married a computer engineer turned model, Ayub Afzal Khan, in August last year.

Umar Farooq, the 12th mirwaiz of Kashmir, had donned the robe of the chief priest when he was 16, after unknown assailants gunned down his father Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq in 1990.

Besides his religious duties, Omar Farooq plays an important role in Kashmir's politics today. He heads the Awami Action Committee, one of the prominent constituents of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, the umbrella organisation of separatist parties.

He was the APHC's first chairman, and is now its executive committee member.

EARLIER INTERVIEW:

'The people are desperate. They need a solution fast.'

The Kashmir ceasefire: The complete coverage

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report