Elections in Kashmir

In ten days Kashmir will go to polls Do you hear the silence Itrsquos the silence of the old commentariat those international opinionists who would exude scorn at any kind of democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir because of their own biases There are no crude comments now from the OIC the EU or from surly American commentators on the right to selfdetermination of Kashmiris being ignored at the altar of Indian democracy Yes they have said something to that effect in the past Why even Pakistani commentators have more or less accepted that assembly elections in JampK are inevitable and more importantly the people of the state want themJammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah meeting supporters at an election meeting at Doderhama in Ganderbal distrct on Saturday PicPTIIt has been a rocky journey since the assembly election of 1987 which were rigged Not that Pakistan has an exemplary record and we all know what happened in Florida in 2000 which determined through doubtful methodology that George Bush would be the president of the US and not Al Gore The general elections of 1989 saw less than 10 per cent voting in Kashmir It was a difficult decade that followed Thousands lost their lives in a separatist movement Security forces paid a heavy price too Both sides have a different set of figures for casualties Several generations of Kashmiris have been scarred beyond repairBut since the elections of 2008 there is little doubt that roots of democracy have dug in into the state It does not mean that separatism does not exist it does not mean that electricity outages no longer turn into demands for Azaadi It does not mean that unmarked graves will not remind one of violence and bloodshed It just means that the people of Kashmir have mostly chosenhellip to use a clicheacute the route of the ballot rather than bullet The sentence that stays with you long after you watched the Kashmirbased film Haider is ldquotumhe koi azaadi nahi mil sakti jab tak tum apne inteqam se azaad nahi ho jaaterdquo A majority of Kashmiris are waking up to this line of thinking It isnrsquot closure to their hurt regret trauma or anger But through peaceful democratic means there is a way forward towards conflict resolutionAzaadi means different things to different people in Kashmir In Nad Pur Dhallian Tehsil in Nowshera of Rajouri district the demand is for a pucca bridge over Manawar river where the makeshift bridge is washed away every monsoon Parents say children risk their lives getting to school azaadi for them is safety for their children and a better future In Mendhar in Poonch which saw heavy cross border firing just a month ago people talk more about lack of electricity and water supply than about hardcore politicsThe NCCongress coalition may not have have lived up to the huge expectation that they rode to power on in 2008 But they represented the people of the state and however imperfect their governance it was essentially Kashmiri It was not foisted by New Delhi Compare this to the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir PoK which the Pakistanis call Azad Kashmir 65 years after being in Pakistani control they canrsquot vote Yes thatrsquos right Under the grand illusionary lsquofreedomrsquo that they have they are not entitled to vote for the federal government of Pakistan A puppet Minister of Kashmir Affairs appointed by Islamabad represents them and GilgitBaltistan People in PoK have no political rights the socalled Azad Kashmir government is devoid of all power which is vested in the bureaucracy at Islamabad but you will never hear about this in the Pakistani media TV channels and newspapers debate endlessly on the rights of Kashmiris in India but of the Kashmiris who are in Pakistanrsquos control you hear nothingNobody speaks about them in the Indian media either As per the Parliamentary resolution adopted unanimously in 1994 PoK is an integral part of India under illegal occupation by Pakistan and those Kashmiris living there are also Indians When the state goes to polls now 24 seats in the assembly will be kept vacant as per Section 48 of the Jammu and Kashmir state constitution for the territorial constituencies that lie in PoK It is a fact we must never forgetIn the coming days security forces will be under strain to prevent infiltration at the border They will also have to be extra vigilant against terror groups who will try to intimidate poll officers politicians and voters from taking part in the democratic exercise The media will find itself being provoked by friends and foe to tint reports to suppress information or aid interest groups to impact the elections in the state in one way or the otherPeople like former US Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphel now under a domestic counterintelligence probe would probably have termed the election farcical even before it began Jaundiced views on democracy in Kashmir are now a thing of the past Here is looking forward to a peaceful election in Jammu and Kashmir where people vote without fear and in large numbersSmita Prakash is Editor News at Asian News International You can follow her on twitter smitaprakash