Alienation of Kashmir

The ongoing panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir has expectedly seen a very low voter turnout in the Kashmir Valley. Only two rounds of voting have taken place so far but both the times the turnout has been less than 10 per cent.

In contrast, it has been fairly good in Jammu and Ladakh. That the Kashmiris were against the elections was known to all. Even the two leading mainstream parties in the state, the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party, opposed it. Yet it was decided to go ahead and hold the polls, forcing the NC and the PDP to boycott it. It is such decisions that alienate the people further.

One of the cardinal rules while dealing with mass unrest and militancy is to take into account people’s sensibilities. All decisions must be carefully weighed before taking a final call. That the government, led by the governor as J&K is currently under president’s rule, chose to ignore these sentiments of the Kashmiris is rather unfortunate.

It would not have been unconstitutional if the panchayat elections were deferred for a while in order to bring about a more conducive atmosphere. After all, even the Anantnag constituency has gone unrepresented in the Lok Sabha for more than two years now. The overdue bypoll for the seat has already become the longest delayed in the country since 1996. The 

seat fell vacant in June 2016 when Mehbooba Mufti vacated it after becoming the chief minister.
That there is a high degree of alienation in the Valley is clear from the fact that an increasing number of educated youth are joining militant outfits. This phenomenon started after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in mid-2016.

More highly-educated youth take to militancy than those educated only up to school. This shows the level of frustration among the population, particularly among the youth. Given these realities, those who do get elected to local bodies in the panchayat elections can hardly call themselves true representatives of the people.