Dimitra Staikou writes
The head of the electoral commission stated that the elections will be held in four stages from September 18 to October 8. He added that great security measures will be taken to enable voters to vote without fear. The BBC’s correspondent in Delhi believes that the Indian government believes that the smooth conduct of the elections will strengthen the legitimacy of its sovereignty in Kashmir.
But the biggest separatist alliance and one of their leaders, Shabir Shah, have already announced they will boycott the election.. Fortunately, so far there have been no incidents of violence that prevent the smooth conduct of the elections.
Why are these elections so important in the long-suffering region of Kashmir? Jammu and Kashmir will vote to elect a new Assembly in three phases for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370 by the Indian government in 2019. Before we look at what is happening with the elections right now let’s dwell for a minute on Article 370 and the importance of its abolition.
Article 370 of the Indian constitution was repealed on August 5, 2019, ending seven decades of discrimination faced by tribal communities including the Gujjar-Bakerwal and Gaddi-Sippi in Jammu and Kashmir and paving the way for them to get equal rights in the country.
Members of the Gujjar-Bakerwal and Gaddi-Sippi communities, who were exploited to the hilt by the former rulers, are fully empowered to live and work like the rest of the residents just three years after J&K’s so-called special status was revoked.
After the abrogation of Article 370 and the transition of J&K to a Union Territory, the Government of India has worked hard to achieve a balanced development of infrastructure as well as human resources through a series of unprecedented policy decisions, schemes and programs to implement the principle of equality.
Now coming back to the elections going on these days in Kashmir there are 90 seats in the district assembly. The last Assembly poll was held in the Himalayan region in 2014. Apart from Jammu and Kashmir, the ECI announced that polling to elect a new Assembly will also be held in Haryana in a single phase on October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 4. Recently, voting was held in Jammu and Kashmir during the elections of the Hellenistic Lok Sabha “House of the People”, which is the lower house of the Indian Parliament.
After the abrogation of Article 370, a bold move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, the region was effectively linked with India and ended the rule of anti-peace groups.
What was happening in the Jammu and Kashmir region before the abrogation of the article and who were behind the attacks? Extremist Muslim jihadists have been responsible for deadly terrorist attacks. In February 2019, a suicide bomber belonging to a terror group banned in Pakistan killed 40 members of an Indian police unit, making it the deadliest attack in Kashmir in three decades.
It should be noted that Turkey has played an important role in this by financially and militarily strengthening the movements of the jihadists, wanting through this movement to strengthen Pakistan diplomatically.
As reported by the Kurdish news agency ANF, citing unnamed sources, the leader of the group close to Turkey in Syria “Suleiman Shah” revealed his intention to transfer a number of fighters from Syria to the Kashmir region, over which India and Pakistan have a long-standing dispute. conflict.
The deployment of pro-Turkish mercenaries on the Pakistani side is related to Erdogan’s expansionist ambitions through his involvement in historical and chronic conflicts with religious and ethnic backgrounds, such as between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus and, now, between India and Pakistan in the depths of Asia.
Combining the terpnon after the beneficial, Erdoğan also hopes for defense cooperation with Pakistan with the aim of selling the products of Turkey’s defense industry.
But after the abrogation of Article 370 by India, things in Kashmir have changed for the better. According to an article on the website therealkashmir.com, titled “Kashmir’s nightlife revives as Pakistan-backed terrorism declines,” the which is signed by Khubaib Mir, author and President of Voice of Youth (Largest youth based organization), currently the center of Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, is bustling with activity till late at night. “Young people now play football, cricket and other sports in well-lit stadiums until midnight, and the fear and threat of sunset terror has completely disappeared. »
There are no more terrorists carrying guns or hand grenades as the security services have downgraded them. There are no more grenade attacks or crossfires, separatist shutdown calls or incidents of stone pelting anywhere in the valley.
With our eyes fixed on Kashmir right now let’s hope for the best outcome of the elections and restoration of peace and democracy in the region as till now the incidents of violence are one after the other.
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