The Revolutionary Elections in
Jammu & Kashmir
The People were Voting for Azaadi (Freedom)
Firdous
Syed
The first phase of polls in the twin districts of Baramulla and
Kupwara in the Valley is complete, and the average turnout is
by all means satisfactory — not much below the national
average.
Barring
a few incidents of coercion, this time there are no reports of
rigging, which is an encouraging signal given the peculiar situation
these elections were conducted in. And the biggest achievement
is that there was not much poll-related violence.
Although
one security person and a civilian were killed, going by even
the routine occurrence of militancy-related violence in the state,
polling was by and large peaceful despite desperate bids to disrupt
the exercise.
Notwithstanding
the speculations about the boycott calls translating into reality,
people came out to vote in large numbers. On-the-spot assessments
of the voters’ mood indicates that they voted for change
from everything that is in vogue today.
And
interestingly, despite the fears that peoples’ participation
in the democratic exercise will be interpreted as their ratification
to New Delhi’s claims over the region, people who came out
to vote were unwilling to compromise their sentiment for ‘Azaadi’
(freedom).
In
far off Tangdha in the immediate vicinity of the Line of Control
in Keran sector of Kupwara, a group of local people while talking
to visiting media persons remarked that besides hoping that the
elections would pave the way for progress and prosperity, they
were also voting for ‘Azaadi’. When asked to elaborate,
they had their own meaning and connotations for the term.
For
them voting meant ‘Azaadi’ from a system that is corrupt.
It meant freedom from poverty and under-development. It also meant
the evolution of a system wherein their aims, aspirations, wishes
and desires are respected and framed into administrative policy.
A
sixty-year-old woman, Rehti, while standing in a queue outside
a polling station in Handwara, was asked why she had come to vote.
She was voting for ‘Azaadi’, she replied.
Although
for her, a simple village woman, it was next to impossible to
elaborate what the term meant, the other people who had gathered
on the spot were eloquent enough to explain their hopes from the
exercise.
Septuagenarian
Ghulam Qadir of Baramulla said that he had voted for green —
meaning the 
erstwhile
Muslim United Front (MUF), whose electoral debacle in 1987 practically
opened the floodgates of militancy in Kashmir.
Although
this time the MUF is not in the fray—and nor is any prominent
separatist outfit publicly supporting any political group or candidate—yet,
if 70-year-old Qadir feels that he has voted for the MUF, it means
he has not voted for the National Conference.
An
anti-NC swing was clearly evident wherever the opposition candidate
is strong. Be it Handwara where the NC’s candidate is facing
a formidable challenge from a Peoples Conference rebel candidate,
Ghulam Mohiuddin Sofi, or the Sheikh family’s one-time bastion
of Gulmarg where Sheikh Abdullah’s youngest son Dr Mustafa
Kamal is pitted against former Law Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir,
it is actually the pro-change sentiment that has manifested into
an anti-NC swing.
No
doubt it will be naïve to rate as authentic the rough exit
poll assessments compiled by individual observers and journalists,
but there is an overwhelming sentiment favouring change.
And
what is by all counts a revolutionary development is that people
have come to realize the toll the status quo is claiming of them.
They are unwilling to compromise their emotional attachment to
‘Azaadi’ but they have realized the futility of undemocratic
means. There are different connotations ‘freedom’
has come to attract. It no longer signifies what it used to in
the early nineties when cries of “Hum Kya Chahte, Azaadi
(we want freedom)” would rock the Valley.
Even
now, people shout the slogan at full pitch, but they also know
that there are more sophisticated ways to reach that goal. They
know that remaining cut off from the mainstream is not going to
help. The change they want will come once they are out of the
status quo. To end the impasse, they have to participate in the
system as active players — they have to vote, even if they
take refuge in believing they are doing so for ‘Azaadi’.
While
any end to the status quo may in no way favour NC, Hurriyat, which
has the potential to be another key player in Kashmir politics,
is yet to realize the futility of its remaining a spectator. The
Hurriyat may not want to attract the criticism that taking the
poll plunge could trigger, but then there are certain queries
that the separatist conglomerate should have answers for.
Safuddin
(name changed) was the only person to cast his vote in one of
the polling booths in Baramulla constituency. When asked what
prompted him to vote even when everyone else in the constituency
had boycotted the polls, he said: “I can’t vote for
the system wherein my family’s life is not safe and secure.
Why
should I vote for the system that does not guarantee the honour
and dignity of my mother, sister, wife? Why should I vote for
the government, which I know is going to be corrupt? I voted for
change. I want an end to all that is wrong.” On the Hurriyat’s
boycott, he asked, if governance and administration was not for
them, “then whose baby is it?”
Successful
completion of the first phase of polls has diluted the Hurriyat’s
theory of disputed legacy. The 23-party amalgam has blundered
yet again. The Kashmir dispute in its recent avatar has a history
of half a century.
Going
by the pace of developments on the Indo-Pak front as well as on
the international stage, the dispute needs some real catalyst
to quicken its resolution, which is in any case something that
no one can guarantee. The complexities are such that the problem
will not be solved overnight.
What
if resolution of the dispute takes fifty more years? Who is going
to provide people the necessary succor? Who is going to give them
schools, colleges and universities? Who will take care of the
roads and buildings? Who will shoulder the responsibility of preserving
the Dal Lake and other water bodies, forest and animal wealth
—the overall environment and fragile ecosystems? Peoples’
needs can’t wait.
The
systems and political dispensations in vogue have failed and people
have conveyed their urge for change. Those who claim to be concerned
about public welfare can’t go on hunting for easy escape
routes. Someone has to take the initiative and break the ice.
The question is: Can Elections 2002 bring forth the change people
have voted for?
The
author is President of the Kashmir Foundation for Peace and Developmental
Studies. During the early 1990s he was known as Babar Badr and
created and commanded a terrorist group, the Muslim Janbaaz Force.
Courtesy: The Hindustan Times.
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