India is holding later this month, elections to Lok Sabha from Kashmir. Significantly, although the elections to the State Assembly have been due for several years, these are not being held. In many other states like Haryana and Tamil Nadu, elections are taking place simultaneously for the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies. Why Kashmir has been singled out for different treatment is not hard to fathom. The Indian authorities are not certain about the attitude of the people of Kashmir about what kind of Assembly they will elect despite years of repression by the army.
The current poll, therefore, is more in the nature of a trial balloon to ascertain the mood and desires of the people of Kashmir as well as the world public opinion, than the fulfillment ofa periodic constitutional requirement, It is fairly well known that the Kashmiri people remain as alienated from Indi as they had been all these decades, The Indian authorities had hoped that large scale oppression and aggression would bend the will of the people but it had been a pipe dream, No wonder, the government did not allow representatives of Amnesty International t visit the valley for more than a decade, Nor has the idea of posting international observers to oversee the conduct of Lok Sabha elections found favor with New Delhi. The India organized elections in Kashmir had never inspired confidence of the world public opinion in the best of the circumstances before the decade long unrest. The current exercise could hardly be expected to enjoy any credibility.
In the circumstances, Pakistan’s high commissioner in Delhi, Riaz Khotkhar, did not say anything profound when he observed in a media interview early this week: “All elections in Kashmir in the past have been rigged, the present election will be rigged and all future elections will be rigged.” But the timing of the commissioner’s statement has caused a lot of confusion in Delhi which reacted violently to the interview. The Pak envoy may be preempting the world public opinion against taking the Indian exercise in Kashmir seriously as they tend to regard the elections in the rest of the country. That ‘explains why the envoy made no reference at all to the poll in other Indian states. Observers in India are speculating about the fallout of the statement on the electoral prospects of political parties because nearly two thirds of the exercise still remains to be completed. Many feel that the hawkish BJP will benefit from Khokhar’s outburst by arguing that the present ruling party is too weak to stand up to Pakistan’s pressure on the Kashmir issue.
The Indian government and the country’s political parties cannot advance their cause on the Kashmir issue by their angry statements. If they feel they have a cause to uphold, let them first convince the people of Kashmir about the governments bona fide, the people remain available to the Indian state and its ways in the valley India’s effort to repress Kashmiris into submission has failed. Make-believe electoral exercises to show Kashmur is siding with India can fool no one. Khokhar obviously has a point when he says that India’s elections in Kashmir have always been rigged. Why should New Delhi fight shy of allowing international observers to watch the process? No wonder, questioning of India’s credibility has many more takers than Pakistan’s envoy in Delhi. Why India should shut its eyes to the universally known position that Kashmir remains a disputed territory. The only answer to the problem is that the wishes of the people should be ascertained more honestly. Let the valley be entrusted to the United Nations for 45 years before an honest, internationally supervised opinion poll is organized there.
In the meanwhile India must pull out its half a million strong army from the valley. Otherwise, the world public opinion ‘will continue to believe that the electoral exercises in Kashmur by India are a mere farce. For one to reach that conclusion, there is no need to wait for a statement by Khokhar. The entire picture is so very clear.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 1, 1996
