Kashmiris are now willingly voting in Lok Sabha election
For years, people in Kashmir valley were forced to boycott elections, as a means to show their “support” for the separatist elements who wanted to merge with Pakistan. These separatist parties with support and funding from Pakistan made attempts to de legitimise – using democracy – the India Muslim majority state and tried their best to turn the region into a hotbed of armed rebellion against Indian Government since 1989. Terrorist armed groups and separatist leaders routinely issued boycott calls ahead of every election.
Yet, as India votes in its national election 2024, that voting pattern is changing. Five years after the Parliament of India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (which as it is was only temporary), overall a good 38% + have come out in Srinagar Constituency to vote.
The Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley’s three seats in the lower house of India’s parliament, the Lok Sabha, have been given three different dates for voting in the elections. Srinagar, the only city that has voted so far – on May 13 – saw a 38+ percent turnout for the region. That’s the highest voting percentage since 1989. The figure stood at 14.43 percent in the last elections in 2019.
If this is not a endorsement of India or its policies, then what – – a certificate from Dawn, Al Jazeera, Washington Post or the BBC ? This is the reflection of a dramatically changed political landscape in the region where the majority are no more afraid of the guns of the terrorists and have seen through the plot of the Separatists.
They are now aware of the infrastructural developments, huge investments, increasing trade and commerce opportunities and rise in tourism. People now feel that they are benefiting with the Peace and being integrated with the rest of the Country. They are increasingly getting aware of the prevailing condition in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and even the failed state of Pakistan.
Long queues of voters in Pulwama district
A portion of Kashmir was illegally occupied by Pakistan in 1947 -48.Pakis say that it is a disputed territory and claim the entire State of Kashmir. So far four wars have been fought for Kashmir by Pakistan in 1947 -48, 1965,1971 and 1998 Kargil War. A fifth one is inevitable because India is determined to take back PoK at the time of its own chosing. Also regarding dispute – India can only have it with Britain over the Partition Act of 1947.
From 1989, when the Paki backed terrorist groups nearly took over the Valley and tried to establish their sway thousands of people have been killed by them. The Indian army along with the Central Security Forces and the J& K Police slowly turned the tide and broke the back of the terrorism. Though it has taken nearly 30 years to achieve this.
National Conference candidate Aga Syed Ruhullah in an election rally in Srinagar ahead of the May 13, 2024, vote in the city
For the first time in decades, separatist leaders and armed groups have not been able to call for an election boycott as they know they will be fully exposed. Also openly calling for Poll boycott will make them answerable to the Law of the land. Voters have the option of Nota incase they favour none of the candidates.
Mainstream Kashmiri political parties have welcomed the shift from boycotts to voting. Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, the candidate of the National Conference (NC) from Srinagar, said Kashmiris had paid a heavy price over the years.
All these years, the mainstream political parties have been discredited in Kashmir. Election participation was considered [a] sin because the Terrorists and the Separatists said so. People have now realised that [their] vote is a weapon to fight the terrorists and the Separatists. Today, there is peace in Kashmir but People are still afraid of the gun, but by participating in the elections, they have conveyed their support for India.
Since the revocation of Article 370, all Separatist leaders, living off the land so far are now being made accountable to the Law of the land and to the people of Kashmir.
Some 34km from Srinagar, in south Kashmir’s Pulwama – once an epicentre of armed uprising against India – people queued up at the polling booths to cast their votes last Monday. In the last parliamentary election, the Pulwama district, which falls in the Srinagar constituency, recorded just 1 percent polling in comparison to 43.39 percent this time.
Muneeb Bashir, 20, a computer science engineering student at AMC Engineering College in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, is a first-time voter.
“We need young leaders to represent the aspirations of Kashmiri youth. The situation has changed here [in Kashmir] from boycotting days,” Bashir said. Behind Bashir in a queue was 25-year-old Muneer Mushtaq. His reason to cast a vote for the first time was to save India’s constitution, he said.
Unlike in the past, many women were also queueing up to vote.
Shopian, another district in southern Kashmir where terrorist groups have long had influence, also witnessed a 47.88 percent voter turnout compared with 2.64 percent in the 2019 general elections.
PM Modi and Indian Home Minister Amit Shah both credited the abrogation of Article 370 for the higher voter percentage in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency.
“Would especially like to applaud the people of Srinagar Parliamentary constituency for the encouraging turnout, significantly better than before,” Modi tweeted.
Modi reshared images posted by India’s Election Commission of long queues of voters in Srinagar.
Shah said the abrogation of Article 370 was a win for democracy in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Modi government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 is showing results in the poll percentage as well. It has enhanced people’s trust in democracy, and its roots have deepened in J&K [Jammu and Kashmir],” Shah wrote on X.
“Through the surge in the poll percentage, the people of J&K have given a befitting reply to those who opposed the abrogation and are still advocating its restoration,” he added.
Poll tactics wise the NDA has not fielded a candidate in any of the three Kashmir Valley constituencies – which experts say reflects their wish to make the NC and PDP to slog it out. BJP will surely have candidates for the State elections when they are held.
Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri –the other two seats of Kashmir Valley – will vote in the next two rounds of Lok Sabha polls.
