Issue No. 605
International
Previous issue
Site map
|
|
26 Sept. - 2 October 2002 Issue No. 605 International |
Current issue Previous issue Site map | |
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Under the weight of violence
Elections for the 87- member state assembly began in Indian- administered Kashmir under a cloud of sporadic violence and mudslinging, writes Iffat Malik from Islamabad
On Monday, the first of four rounds of polls was held in Kashmir. The Indian government is counting on a high voter turn-out in order to validate its claim that Kashmiris do not want to secede from India. But voters are facing calls to boycott the polls from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). The organisations represented by the APHC along with Pakistan are demanding that the future of Kashmir be decided by a plebiscite as was determined by UN Resolution 91 in 1951.
It was difficult to fully grasp public enthusiasm for the polls. In some districts very few voters participated but in others voters clearly defied the call to boycott and showed at the polls in full force. Those districts near the Line of Control (LOC), especially Kupwara, had the lowest turnout. Voter participation was highest in regions with a significant Hindu population and in those with moderate Kashmiri leaders such as Abdul- Ghani Lone. Lone was killed by militants on 21 May because he was considering participating in the elections.
The Indian Election Commission estimated the overall turnout to be a "satisfactory" 47 per cent which has been disputed by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. The organisation claims that those figures are highly inflated and has accused Indian security forces of coercing people to vote.
An estimated 300 people, including the state Law Minister Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, were killed between the announcement of elections on 2 August and the first round of voting on 16 September. However, polling day itself was relatively peaceful. But this relative peace did not last as violence picked up again after the first round of elections was complete. Seventeen people were killed in various incidents in the two days following the poll.
Last Thursday militants attacked a school in the remote village of Jamiaan, some 100 miles north of Jammu. They fired on the school indiscriminately, killing a teacher and a student. Azad Ahmed Khan, a National Conference activist, was also shot dead on Thursday. An APHC member was killed on the following day, making a total of nine people killed in 24 hours and 29 National Conference activists targeted since elections were announced.
The minister for tourism, Sakina Itoo, survived the second attempt on her life in less than a week when her motorcade hit a land mine and was fired on by militants. Security was extra-tight on Thursday when Congress leader Sonia Gandhi paid her first campaign visit to the state. Addressing a gathering in Srinagar, Gandhi called for unconditional talks with the people of all three regions of the state (Kashmir, Jammu, Ladakh). She made a point to target her remarks towards those with "doubts in their minds", referencing Kashmiri separatists.
As was expected, New Delhi blamed the election violence on Islamabad. It accused the Pakistani government of encouraging militants to cross the LOC into Kashmir.
On Thursday, 19 September, the American ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, appeared to support those claims. In a recorded television programme, he noted that LOC infiltration had risen since the beginning of August. Blackwill said the US expected Pakistan to fulfil its pledge to end cross-border infiltration permanently. He also said Washington did not share the Pakistani government's view that the elections were a sham.
Speaking at a conference on international peace and security in Islamabad, President Musharraf strongly rejected accusations of Pakistani support for militant infiltration. "Any claims to the contrary are... false." He also argued that, "If India, with a larger force deployed cannot seal the Line of Control, it should not expect this from Pakistan." There was little surprise in the US and Pakistan being at odds over the Indian Kashmir election. Washington has traditionally supported the Indian rather than Pakistani line, especially over militants. However, the US-led war on terrorism has strengthened the US-Pakistan relationship.
There was a surprise glitch in the US- Pakistan relationship when on Tuesday, 17 September, Pakistan announced the arrest of seven suspected terrorists in Karachi. Among the seven suspected terrorists is a man believed to be responsible for the 8 May suicide bombing that killed 11 Frenchmen outside the city's Sheraton Hotel. On Thursday 19 September, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told a Joint Congressional Intelligence Committee: "President Musharraf's intelligence service thwarted a bombing attempt on him yesterday."
If that was the case, the Pakistanis were extremely reluctant to take credit for it. So much so that both President Musharraf and his spokesman Rashid Qureshi, speaking on separate occasions, denied there had been a plot to kill the Pakistani leader. In efforts to secure the image of Pakistan and to ensure that the militant problem appears under control, Musharraf has constantly sought to downplay threats to his own life and leadership. But the Pakistani president's claims are belied by the massive security that surrounds him.
The India-Pakistan relationship poses one of the greatest challenges to the Musharraf government. Even with final round of elections approaching, 8 October, there appears to be little likelihood that the relationship will improve.
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
