J K News Today Commentary

It is not an assumption but a fact that Pakistan has started interfering in the electoral process in Kashmir with a  remarkable change  in its strategy to bring  the troubles in the Valley to greater attention of the international community.

There never was any doubt that Pakistan would use all its resources  to sabotage the grassroots democracy in Jammu and Kashmir. That is a great tool in its hands to  demean the democracy in the State where the infrastructural development and the grievances of the people have remained unaddressed for years together. The reason is the absence of the democratic institutions.

Municipalities , Panchayats  and legislative Assembly form important components of the  democracy in the State . These are the democratic forums where the people find their voice articulated  by their elected representatives. At the moment, the Assembly is under suspended animation that implies that while the elected representatives have their status as MLAs but they cannot air the grievances of the people in the forum. This is a jolt to the  representative democracy .

The State was preparing  for the  Municipal and Panchayat polls.. In fact the preparations are on. The separatists had thrown a spanner in the polls much before the Government linked it to the outcome of the Article 35 A  of the Indian constitution in the Supreme Court to the polls – that became a rallying cry for the mainstream parties to announce their non-participation in the polls .

Separatists had given a call for  poll boycott much before the poll schedule was being frames . They were looking for  means to sabotage the process. That they were doing it at the behest of Pakistan is an understatement .

Why Pakistan should be interested in  sabotaging the  polls that would create institutions  that would redress their grievances and relieve them of their day-to-day problems ? It is exactly for the same reason that Pakistan doesn’t want these polls to take place because if the people find the platform to get their problems solved at their doorsteps and democracy assumes vibrancy, the people would get engaged in productive activity . That would be an endgame for Pakistan .

And, when the whole thing was linked to the Article 35 A  , the constitutional provision granting special rights and privileges of the hereditary permanent residents of the State , separatists  were quick to interlink that to the agitation for protection of the  Constitutional provision  to  the “ Kashmir dispute” . There was no relevance  between the two issues, but since they were shy of admitting the fact of the magnanimity of the Indian constitution , they tried to give it a different colour.

Now the  pieces  in the puzzle have stated falling in place .  The separatists have taken  it now too far. They say that the boycott of the polls is not an issue , but they would call it for the right to self-determination of the people of Kashmir as per the U N resolutions. This is an echo of what Pakistan is saying . It is a time that the people  of Kashmir wake up to the anti-democratic designs sponsored by Pakistan.