Karwar :

The new Jammu and Kashmir government has a Karnataka link.

Mohammad Ashraf Mir, who took oath as a minister in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Cabinet in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, is married to a girl from this port town.

Residents of Bhatkal, especially the Navayath community members, celebrated the news of Mir’s appointment as a minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mir was also in the news after he defeated former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah from Sonawar constituency in last year’s Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

While, Mir secured 14,283 votes, Omar Abdullah managed just 9,500 votes.

Mir married Zareen in Bengaluru in 1996. Zareen is the daughter of Farooq Udyavar, a businessman, who is a resident of Port Road in Bhatkal.

A close relative of the family told Express that Mir and Zareen’s marriage was love-cum-arranged.

Mir and Zareen did  MBA at a private college in Bengaluru. At present, Zareen’s parents are residing in Bengaluru as they are renovating their old house in Bhatkal town.

The family members are planning to visit Srinagar to congratulate Mir.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Marx Tejaswi / March 02nd, 2015