Pro-India parties in Kashmir upset over election delay

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - Pro-India Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have criticized a decision by the country's election body against conducting local polls in the insurgency hit region.

India's Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Sunday cited inadequate security arrangements for their move.

“We need a sizeable number of security personnel for the protection of every candidate contesting assembly elections in the state. This was also a demand put forth by representatives of political parties we met during our visit there. Availability of security forces is a constraint,” he said.

Criticizing the move, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah tweeted: “PM [Narendra] Modi has surrendered to Pakistan, to the militants & to the Hurriyat [pro-independence group that fights Indian rule in the region]."

Abdullah added that it was the first time since 1996 that assembly elections were not being held on time.

Jammu and Kashmir is at present under presidential rule.

The region has not had an elected government since June 2018, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party pulled out of an alliance with the local People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Mehbooba Mufti, the last ruling chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and head of the PDP, also criticized the move.

“Decision to hold only Parliamentary elections in J&K confirms sinister designs of GoI [Government or India]. Not letting people elect a government is antithetical to the very idea of democracy. Also a tactic of buying time to disempower people by pushing an agenda that suits their ulterior motives,” Mufti tweeted.

While pro-India political parties are coming out seeking elections, the Hurriyat has witnessed intensified crackdown with most of its top leaders jailed, in the aftermath of last month's bombing that killed at least 40 Indian troops in the region.

Hurriyat calls for a boycott to the Indian elections calling them a farcical exercise and "a facade to India’s military occupation in Kashmir".

The Indian general election will be held from April 11 to May 19 in seven phases. Parliamentary polls will be held in six constituencies of Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.