Kashmir goes to the polls for first time since India stripped autonomy

A BJP candidate Mushtaq Nowsheri travels to homes and public places during his election campaign at Boniyar in Baramulla district, Kashmir. Opponents to the BJP say the security forces are preventing them from campaigning. Photo by Basit Zargar.

SRINAGAR — Indian-administered Kashmir is holding local elections for the first time since India scrapped an article in the constitution that had allowed the Hindu-majority country’s only Muslim-majority region greater autonomy.

The elections will be held in five phases, beginning Nov. 28. The winning 280 members from 20 districts will take part in a grassroots ruling body, touted by the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government as an exercise to bring democracy to Kashmiris.

Analysts say if the election is fair, this election could be a referendum on the constitutional changes made on Aug. 5 last year. But there is evidence that the Indian government is preventing local political parties from campaigning. 

The Himalayan region had acceded to India at the time of India’s independence in 1947 rather than merging with a Muslim Pakistan under a constitutional provision called Article 370 that allowed a semi-autonomous rule in Kashmir. Part of Kashmir did join Pakistan, and Pakistan has bitterly struggled for more control of the region, which holds a major water source flowing from Tibet.

Nearly 7 million people live in the Kashmir Valley, 97% of them Muslim. About 47,000 people have been killed in conflict in the last three decades, mainly between Indian security forces and Kashmiri militant separatists, according to government figures. In 90’s many Kashmiri Hindus fled for their lives and settled outside Kashmir in places like Jammu and Delhi. 

On Aug. 5, 2019, the Indian parliament unilaterally ended Kashmir’s special status in the Indian Union. The region was split into two federally administered territories and brought under a direct rule of New Delhi, which enforced an Internet and phone blackout for months. Til date, high speed Internet continues to be blocked. New laws were introduced in Kashmir to pave way for outsiders to settle in Kashmir.

The BJP says the abrogation of Article 370 was done to bring development in Kashmir, end militant separatism funded by Pakistani terrorists and bring the region closer to India. But Kashmir-based political parties who have taken part in elections in the past held under Indian rule say the motive behind ending Kashmir’s special status is to erode the region's unique cultural identity and change its demography.

In a significant development, for the first time, major Kashmir-based political parties swept their differences aside and joined under a common umbrella, People’s Alliance For Gupkar Declaration (PAGD,) to fight the elections unitedly against the BJP and its allies.

The tactical shift has upset the ruling BJP, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah slamming the PAGD in a series of tweets, calling them a “gang.” Shah said the alliance is insulting the national flag and batting for foreign intervention in Kashmir. 

"Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and will always remain an integral part of India. Indian people will no longer tolerate an unholy ‘global gathbandhan’ (alliance) against our national interest. Either the Gupkar Gang swims along with the national mood or else the people will sink it," Shah wrote on Twitter. "Congress and the Gupkar Gang want to take Jammu and Kashmir back to the era of terror and turmoil. They want to take away rights of Dalits, women and tribals that we have ensured by removing Article 370. This is why they’re being rejected by the people everywhere."

The PAGD hit back saying the BJP has lost focus from the main issues faced by the country and its tactics of projecting itself as the sole savior of the country are predictable. As the polling drew closer, the PAGD accused that the New Delhi-led security forces are stopping some of its candidates from campaigning on the pretext of keeping peace in the streets. Kashmir is the world’s most militarily occupied region.

“I came to visit the residence of one of our candidates who was stopped from moving out of his residence for campaigning on the pretext of security. The situation is the same for our other candidates,” said former chief minister of Kashmir and Vice President of PAGD Mehbooba Mufti. “We are told there is no discrimination with PAGD candidates, but discrimination is visible. I appeal the people to vote for the candidates of the alliance for giving a befitting reply to the government in Delhi and its allies.”

The authorities have placed Mufti under house arrest several times. She said Friday her and her daughter were not allowed to meet with a youth leader for the PAGD. 

The PAGD is contesting the elections to restore the decimated identity of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti said. “Please vote and make the PAGD candidates win,” she said.

Analysts say if there is a level playing field and all the parties of the PAGD alliance and other ideological forces are allowed to campaign and go to the people, this election could be a referendum on the constitutional changes made on Aug. 5 last year. 

“This seems to be a one-sided exercise and an attempt to erase Kashmir’s memory and criminalize independent opinion in Kashmir and a manufactured consent from people of what happened last year,” said Gowhar Geelani an analyst and a political commentator.

At the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) complex on the outskirts of the capital Srinagar, the administration has kept more than 40 candidates from taking part in the elections. The candidates are alleging that they are not allowed to move out of the building freely to campaign and meet with the voters.

Javed Nilora is contesting elections from the “Litter” constituency in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district going to polls on Dec. 10. He is among the 40 odd candidates currently in the EDI complex. He says he has been kept there against his wishes.

“I had requested that I don’t want to leave my family… but I was kept here and not allowed to move out for campaigning,” he said. “My opponents are campaigning and meeting the people, but I have not been given the permission to do that. We are being insulted, we have been downgraded. How will people respect us? They are making us behave like cattle.”

Nilora said the elections are totally a meaningless exercise with no transparency involved in the whole process. 

Meanwhile, the BJP candidates running in the elections have not raised any allegations of restrictions to campaign due to security issues.

Avtar Krishan Pandita, a Kashmiri Hindu who migrated from Kashmir to Jammu in the 90’s after militancy erupted is taking part in the elections and contesting on a BJP ticket from Imam Sahib constituency going to polls on Dec. 13.

In the past, he has unsuccessfully contested the assembly elections in 2008 and the parliamentary elections in 2009 on a BJP ticket. 

He says there are no restrictions and candidates have full freedom to go about campaigning and meeting the people in his constituency.

“The revocation of Article 370 is not the main issue, but development and the removal of unemployment are the main issues,” Pandita said.

But others like Ghulam Mohamamd Mir contesting as an independent candidate from Litter constituency said he had approached the police for permission to visit his constituency to meet with the people but permission has not been granted yet.

Mir was shot by terrorists at his home in 2001 and took 12 bullets in his two legs. He is disillusioned with the entire electoral process.

“I have not been allowed to visit my constituency due to security reasons, but a BJP candidate is allowed to campaign,” he said. “It seems that the restrictions are for some and not for all.” 

Mir said people come to meet him at the hotel, but he is not allowed to visit the constituency. The authorities want to move him to the EDI complex, but Mir is resisting.

Kashmir elections under Indian rule have traditionally seen low voter turnouts, with separatists calling for a poll boycott and threatening those who do vote. But this time many people are keen to exercise their right to vote.

“I will vote to keep communal forces away. After all it is a question of our identity,” said Showkat Ahmad, a first time voter in Srinagar.