Kashmiri-origin Pandith is US face for Muslim world

A woman of Kashmiri-origin, Farah Pandith, has been made the US’s special representative to the Muslim world. But her appointment in the state department, announced by secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Thursday, has raised eyebrows in India.

Pandith’s task will be to advise Clinton on dealing with Muslim communities around the world, in keeping with US president Barack Obama’s desire to engage with the Muslim world.

But, significantly, Pandith’s family is from Sopore, the apple-rich north Kashmir town known for its strong separatist leanings — it is home to Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and thousands of young men from here have been recruited by insurgents.

Pandith left Sopore for the US with her parents when she was five. Her relatives are affluent, owning several orchards and till two decades ago the town’s only cinema hall, which was replaced by a business complex after militants banned cinemas and other entertainment venues.

Her uncle Abdul Rashid Pandith was very happy with the news of her appointment. “I will call my brother and congratulate him for Farah making Kashmir proud,” he said.

“Her mother is a doctor. They have a home in Boston but Farah has been living in Washington since her previous appointment in the Bush administration (as a senior adviser on Muslim engagement to the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs).”

India refused to comment on Pandith’s appointment by Clinton, saying it was an internal matter of the US. But privately, foreign ministry officials said they were not worried about her origin or possible leanings on the Kashmir issue. “We don’t expect the Obama administration to take a stand relying on Pandith’s advise. We are too big a country to be bullied by anyone, even by a superpower,” an official said on the condition of anonymity.