The Young And The Reckless

The youths of Kashmir are disenchanted with mainstream politics. Violent clashes with security forces have become routine. So have deaths. The PDP, which once offered a middle ground to separatists, seems to have lost its grip, partly because of its alliance partner, the BJP. Given the current situation, it could be quite difficult to bring back the voters.

- Tariq Bhat

On April 10, a day after eight civilians were killed in clashes with security forces dur-ing anti-election protests in Srinagar, senior government officials met to discuss how the fallout would affect Anantnag, which would also hold a Lok Sabha byelection two days later. Most of the polling booths in Anantnag—more than 1,500—had been declared hyper sensitive. In the meeting, the officials were told, based on intelligence reports, that violence in Anantnag could kill four to five times more people than in Srinagar. “The meeting felt it would be impossible to protect the polling booths from mobs without the use of massive force,” a senior official who attended the meeting told THE WEEK. A minister had suggested relocating some of the booths to “safer” places, but “we thought that would be tantamount to premeditated rigging,” said the official. The Election Commission and the opposition would not allow that to happen, the official said. It was then that Tassaduq Hussain Mufti—the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in Anantnag and brother of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti—asked the commission to postpone the elections.

Most political analysts said Tassaduq had done so for fear of losing. Like in Srinagar, where only 7.14 per cent of the electorate voted, a low turnout in Anantnag could have tipped the scale in favour of G.A. Mir, the Congress candidate supported by the National Conference. Mir, furious with the deferral, said if the situation was so bad, Mehbooba should have immediately resigned.