The Hindu : The polls are a non-event here

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Sunday, Sep 15, 2002

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The polls are a non-event here

By Anjali Mody

A scene at the main market at Sopore in North Kashmir as the campaigning for the elections ended on Saturday. — Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Sopore SEPT. 14 . Campaigning for the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections ended today, but in Sopore, this will go un-noticed for this is a town where the elections are a non-event. Most people have no idea of the contestants and cannot even name many of them, except the National Conference incumbent, Abdul Ahad Vakil ``because he is in power''.

Mohammed Ashraf, who runs a cloth store, said, "no one in Sopore will vote.'' So was the case in 1996 when the constituency recorded the lowest turnout in the State of seven per cent, with reports of the Army and the BSF "forcing the villagers to vote."

At apple town Sopore — the main apple mandi in the Valley — the mood is the same. Growers, commission agents, buyers and loaders from the surrounding villages said they would not vote. "If we vote, it will be because the Army forces us to.'' The constant refrain was: "Who should we vote for? If someone asks us to vote for him, we might think about it.'' And no one has. There have been no election rallies; the constituency is bereft of posters and buntings. ``Mr. Vakil has been seen passing through, but has never stopped and spoken to any of us,'' said Noor Mohammed who runs a mattress shop.

This was not always so. This is a constituency that until 1987 had regular elections. Three times it returned the Jamaat-e-Islami and Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, with over 50 per cent votes in an election with nearly 90 per cent turnout. But the 1987 election was won by the National Conference, in what is widely seen as "the most-rigged election.'' Most people link the rise of militancy to the political environment following this event.

Shopowners said it was this which forced many into taking up extremism.

And militancy has been at the heart of Sopore's troubles. In 1990, the town was effectively under militants' control. The Army regained the upper hand later. January 6, 1993 is a day that few in the town have difficulty recalling. The BSF battalion, in revenge for the death of one of their numbers, attacked the town and set its central market on fire.

The scars of conflict are barely hidden and the BSF seems only to reinforce the resentment. And an election that kept the Hurriyat out has added to this. The Congress veteran, Ghulam Rusool Kar, a man respected in the town, said this had been a "big mistake" and more time should have been allowed to persuade the Hurriyat to contest the polls. "I do not understand the leadership of Hindustan, what would have happened if Mr. Advani had met the Hurriyat?''

Mr. Kar said that as no political party showed courage, it was fear that ruled. Rumours abound that "militants' posters and pamphlets threatening to kill anyone who goes to vote." But no one seems to have actually seen the pamphlet. Whatever the truth the election promises to be no different from the one in 1996.

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