Defending stepson, minister finds himself cornered in J&K
SRINAGAR: Facing charges of misusing official position to help his son pass class 10 examination in 2009, Jammu and Kashmir education minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed’s tainted saga has all ingredients of a Bollywood flick.
At the peak of militancy, when guns were still blazing in the Valley, Sayeed fell in love with Dr Tabbassum. This was within a year after the death of Sayeed’s first wife in 1997.
Daughter of former Congress leader Abdul Aziz, Tabbassum had earlier witnessed a harrowing experience of her life after marrying a senior militant commander in 1990.
Attracted to machismo and aura of power with gun- wielding commanders of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front
Why should I resign when there is no case but false allegations leveled against me? What is credibility of those who seek an FIR against me?
PEERZADA MOHAMMAD J&K education minister
(JKLF), Tabbassum had fallen for a commander of the outfit, Pervez Ahmed alias Pervez Billa, a resident of Srinagar’s old city locality of Chhattabal.
After spending part of her married life in hiding with the JKLF commander faced a tragic end. Pervez was picked up by the Hizb-ul-mujahiddin, which was JKLF’S rival militant group, and later killed.
The Hizb had accused Pervez of killing the outfit’s self-styled intelligence chief, Mamoon Rasheed.
Widowed, Tabbassum and her son received support from Sayeed. Later, Sayeed and Tabbassum decided top get married, hoping to give the little boy a new life. It is this little boy, Imam Souban, who is at the centre of controversy now.
According to images published by a leading local daily in Srinagar on January 30, the Urdu and Mathematics answer sheets of the minister’s son were bearing two different handwritings with senior school board officials providing a cover, which include present board chairman Sheikh Bashir.
“Why should I resign when there is no case but false allegations leveled against me? What is credibility of those who seek an FIR against me?” Sayeed told the HT on Wednesday.