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NEWS & LETTERS, October 2002
Elections in Kashmir
In the midst of attacks and threats from Pakistan-supported
Jehadi terrorists, the first phase of elections in the Indian-controlled
terrorities of Jammu and Kashmir brought out 47% to the polls in September.
Pakistan and Pakistan-supported militants in Kashmir are calling the elections a
fraud, but according to reporters and foreign observers, the elections appear to
be the most democratic in the region since 1947. The All Party Hurriyat Conference, a conglomeration of
various militant separatist factions, planned to boycott the elections, but
several members have defected in order to contest the election as independent
candidates, even though there have been a series of assassinations of moderate
leaders and candidates since the election was called. Over 450 people have been
killed in assassinations, bombings and attacks on polling places by
foreign-supported Jehadi militants in the last several months. There are
confirmed reports of a rise in terrorist infiltration from Pakistan since the
election campaign began. While many refuse to vote because of threats by militants
on their lives, there have also been several reports of the Indian military
using intimidation to force people to the polls as they did in the 1996
elections. The Hurriyat Conference, for its part, has backed out of an outright
boycott of the elections in fear of the seeming popular support for them. It's
clear that the Kashmiri people are tired of the bloody war that has gripped
their land over the last ten years. Over 60,000 have been killed in the region
since 1989, in the crossfire between militants and Indian security forces. While the corrupt and Congress-backed National Conference
(strongly pro-India) is expected to win, these elections have, for the first
time, brought out an actual opposition to contest the Conference. The ruling
right-wing government in Delhi has refused an alliance with the Conference on
the grounds that their victory is far from assured. The last phase of the
four phase election will take place on Oct. 8. --Maya Jhansi, Sept. 21 |
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