Mainstream Pushed To The Margins

바카라�The youngsters here are angrier than they were in the 1990s,바카라� Andrew Whitehead, who had been to Kashmir several times during that tumultuous decade as a BBC correspondent and went on to write A Mission in Kashmir, told locals who had come for his talk at a café on Residency Road near Srinagar바카라�s Lal Chowk a few days ago. Recalling his conversation with an elderly woman with no separatist leanings, he said she remembered the 1990s as a time when the people were 바카라�angry and scared바카라�, unlike now when most of them are 바카라�angry and fearless바카라�.

Anger and fearlessness, indeed, were abundantly on display in the streets바카라�and especially around the polling booths as Srinagar went to polls on April 9. With almost all separatist leaders either under house arrest or in jails, internet connections snapped, government forces in huge numbers manning the roads, streets, lanes and bylanes, the constituency that had in 2014 elected the People바카라�s Democratic Party바카라�s (PDP) Tariq Hameed Karra바카라�the MP who resigned protesting against the crackdown on protests following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen바카라�s 21-year-old commander Burhan Wani last July바카라�saw just 7.14 per cent (90,050) of the electorate (12,61,395) cast their votes for deciding who would represent them in the Lok Sabha바카라�former CM Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference (NC), who had lost to Karra by a record 40,000 votes in 2014, his first poll defeat in a four-decade-long political career, or the ruling PDP바카라�s Nazir Ahmad Khan.

The voter turnout this time is the lowest since 1967, when the first Lok Sabha election was held in Jammu and Kashmir. Even after the 2008 unrest over the Amarnath land transfer row and economic blockade of the Valley, the turnout in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls was much higher: 26.55. 바카라�People have rejected this sham election as they are no longer interested in ­status-quoist politics,바카라� Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, leader of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, an amalgam of pro-­independence civil society groups, tells Outlook. Mirwaiz believes this is a ­resounding defeat for those who had been arguing for years that participation of Kashmiris in elections can be read as a sign of their accepting the idea of Kashmir being an 바카라�integral part of India바카라�바카라�if a 26 per cent turnout in Srinagar in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections signalled ­India바카라�s improving stock in Kashmir since the 2010 unrest, what would the latest figure signify?

The 7.14 turnout this time also lends more credence than ever before to the argument that whenever the percentage has been comparatively higher바카라�for example, 41 per cent in 1996, following five years of President바카라�s Rule바카라�at least some of it could be attributed to government forces coercing the people to vote.

바카라�This boycott had little to do with the separatists,바카라� says a young man in ­Srinagar바카라�s Old City, who did not wish to be named. 바카라�In the 2008 and 2014 assembly polls, the people heeded the separatists바카라� boycott calls only partially, but this time they have boycotted the polls on their own and it is near-total.바카라� No wonder, J&K바카라�s chief electoral officer Shantmanu described April 9 as 바카라�not a good day for us바카라�. The day also saw over 250 incidents of violence and the killing of eight persons, including a 15-year-old boy, in the firing by government forces.

Worryingly for the government, ­seven of the dead were from Budgam, often touted as a 바카라�bastion of pro-India politics바카라�. When Outlook visited a polling booth near Budgam바카라�s main chowk, a stone바카라�s throw away from the house of the local NC legislator, there was no queue of voters. Instead, around a dozen young men were hanging out outside the booth, keeping a keen eye on every movement. 바카라�The condition is bad. I don바카라�t know what바카라�s in store this year,바카라� says a CRPF jawan from Siliguri, West Bengal, and moves a little farther away from the youths.

바카라�No one will vote here,바카라� says a middle-aged man standing outside his closed grocery shop near the polling booth at Bogur village. 바카라�What have these politicians done for us except killing our children?바카라� When Muneer, 26, joins in, saying, 바카라�Nobody trusts politicians anymore바카라�, his mother comes rushing behind him and pleads with him to go inside. 바카라�Don바카라�t be on the road. They can fire anytime,바카라� she says, pointing at the paramilitary forces. 바카라�And what can they do besides killing us?바카라� Muneer asks his mother in turn. All this while, stones pelted intermitten­tly from a nearby alley were landing around the paramilitary personnel.

At Kremshar, another place that had seen higher turnouts in previous elections, the roads are littered with stones, broken bricks and shards of glass from broken windscreens. Des­pite no inter­net, news of deaths and injuries in ­police firing kept poured in through the day. In remote Hardu Dulwan at ­Charar-e-Sharief, bordering volatile Pulwama, eyewitnesses say the BSF opened fire on protesters, killing 15-year-old Faizan Dar and another youth. At a few other places, however, the government forces left when the locals demanded they must. Elsewhere, young men shouting Azadi slogans were seen running after CRPF personnel, chasing them away.

On April 10, NC spokesperson Junaid Azim Mattu was the only one in his off­ice바카라�one of the few places with internet access even when the government snaps internet services across the Valley. He was hoping the Election Commission of India (ECI) would postpone the Anantnag bypolls, following a request by PDP candidate Mufti Tassaduq, brother of CM Mehbooba Mufti. Some polling booths in the constituency, mostly in schools, had already been set on fire. Eventually, the Anantnag bypoll was deferred from May 12 to May 25.

바카라�We have been saying the situation is not conducive for elections. Tassaduq바카라�s appeal is an indictment of the state government,바카라� Mattu tells Outlook, adding that the low turnout was the people바카라�s response to the failure of the pro-India parties to address the political conflict over the fate of Kashmir. He blames the Centre for the political radicalisation of Kashmiri youth, by leaving them no non-violent recourse to pursue their political aspirations.

Unlike the NC, PDP leaders give the impression of being caught unawares by the extent of the boycott and insist on looking at it through an NC/PDP prism. Interestingly, Naeem Akhtar, chief spokesman of the PDP-BJP coalition, blames the NC바카라�s lack of credibility for the dismal turnout. 바카라�In 2008 and 2014, people came out to vote as we had credibility as the opposition. The NC, on the other hand, couldn바카라�t even hold a workers바카라� meeting,바카라� he says.

However, as intelligence sleuths have been letting on, this spell of anger goes beyond the NC, the PDP and even the separatists. According to senior pol­ice officials, the turnout would not have been better had the separatists not given a boycott call. The officials blame it on the 바카라�mainstream바카라� parties not delivering on their promises바카라�such as NC바카라�s 바카라�autonomy바카라� or PDP바카라�s 바카라�self-rule바카라�바카라�and being seen more and more as 바카라�anti-people바카라�, especially after the handling of protests in 2008, 2010 and 2016. And while the PDP has been pleading for dialogue with separatists and Pakistan바카라�as it fears more face-offs with the angry and fearless locals, who rush to encounter sites with only stones in their hands to save militants, could lead to another spell of violence spiralling out of control바카라�its ally at the Centre is yet to pay heed.

By Naseer Ganai in Srinagar and Budgam