SRINAGAR: “Nobody should come ‘out of his house. No supporter of freedom movement should go to cast his vote in fraudulent elections; we will fight till we reach the goal of liberation.”
With these slogans inscribed on them, tens of thousands of posters were seen pasted on lampposts, closed shops, mosques and other places when the Occupied Valley of Kashmir woke up to a totally observed shutdown in protest against the holding of farcical parliamentary. Elections. In the six seats of Held Jammu and Kashmir, polling for two seats in Jammu and Ladakh was held ‘on May 7. The so-called polling was held in the Valley’s two Muslim dominated constituencies of Anantnag and Baramullahin the South and the North of the Valley on Thursday May 23.
‘The people of Held Kashmir were observing a strike and are staying away from the polls. No human being was seen anywhere roaming in the city of Srinagar. It elections or selections. We want freedom,” a vegetable seller in Maharaj Bazar told this correspondent.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Omer Farooq reiterated saying “these sham elections shall in no way prove of any help to New Delhi which has always been treating Kashmir as its colony.”
AL some places in downtown, this correspondent witnessed that crowds of youths were wearing black badges on their arms, There was no hustle bustle related to elections as the whole city of Srinagar looked like a graveyard with only policemen, soldiers and stray dogs roaming in the streets.
Elections for the remaining two scats of Srinagar and Udhampur were, scheduled for May 30.
There were a record number of 110, candidates in the fray, most of them being fielded and financed by the government on the plea that they were freedom fighters who had surrendered and were now doing a pro government job.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 5, 1996
