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Kashmir : A vote against the militants |
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Twenty-one per cent polling was recorded in the Srinagar parliamentary constituency in Jammu and Kashmir. The polling was by and large peaceful and orderly. The voting figures show an increase of 9 per cent over the corresponding figures of the 1999 election. The percentage would have been higher if the turnout of voters at the polling booths in the Srinagar city areas was better. The voting trends showed a clear pattern. The boycott call given by the terrorist organisations had greater effect on the urban voters than on the rural voters, though the latter are the worst victims of atrocities by the militants. The rural voter has braved the bullets to cast his franchise. This is borne out by the fact that while Charar-e-Sharief in Budgam district recorded 59 per cent voting, Habbakadal in Srinagar district registered the lowest 1 per cent polling. The pattern was more or less the same in the 2002 Assembly elections when also the Srinagar segments recorded a very low polling.
Equally significant is the fact that no extra effort was made by the government or the security agencies to inflate the voting figures. In the past, there were exaggerated allegations that security agencies had exerted pressure on the voters to take part in the polling.
Analysts and observers say in the Assembly elections too, the voters did not experience any coercion from the security agencies to go to the polling booths. But the terrorist organisations spared no effort to scare the voters. Dozens of people lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on political leaders organised with a view to creating terror in the minds of the people. Yet, the voters came out in large numbers to take part in the polling as a measure of their abiding faith in the democratic system.
That the level of violence during the first round of polling in Jammu and Kashmir was not significantly higher than what has come to be accepted as normal, and that - significantly - there was little of customary accusations of forced voting, would suggest a continuance of the positive trend created by a thaw in Indo-Pak relations.
Yet what must not go unnoticed was a fallout of a physical thaw - the first infiltration bid since the onset of summer and the re-opening of mountain passes. Three militants armed with AK-47 rifles were killed and Rs 1,00,000 recovered, but it is not clear if more mischief-makers turned back when security forces detected cross-border movement in the Poonch sector. This, indeed, was a wake up call, a grim reminder that with or without direct support of the Pakistan army there are well-trained, well-equipped jihadis waiting to resume their ill-conceived operations in a troubled state.
While the security forces have conceded that conditions on the Line of Control have improved over the last several months they have also been alive to continuing militant activity. They are fully aware of the infrastructure for militancy not being dismantled.
According to analysts, Kashmir has not seen genuine peace and quiet in more than a decade although the crime graph keeps on rising and falling. During election time, the movement is always upwards.
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