KASHMIR NEWZ

Governor of Indian administered Kashmir, Narendra Nath Vohra (L) administers oath of office to newly elected chief minister Omar Abdullah on January 5. Grandson of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and son of Farooq Abdullah, Omar is a third generation chief minister from his family. Sheikh Abdullah, legendary Kashmir leader, widely hailed and equally disdained, has served as Kashmir’s prime minister as well as chief minister. Abdullah’s National Conference (NC) returned to power after six years in coalition with Congress, which did not repeat an alliance with the NC rival People’s Democratic Party(PDP). Omar won from NC’s traditional seat Ganderbal, which he had humiliatingly lost to PDP in 2002 elections.