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Statehood, security, civic issues remain key concerns in Jammu & Kashmir

By, Srinagar
Aug 17, 2024 07:32 AM IST

On June 20, Modi, while speaking at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar, said the people of Jammu & Kashmir will now be able to elect their local representatives to get their problems addressed.

From the return of statehood five years after Jammu & Kashmir became a Union territory on the same day Article 370 was abrogated to a surge in terror in Jammu over the past 24 months, to civic issues of electricity and employment generation — Jammu & Kashmir’s first assembly polls in half a decade will see political parties battle it out on the electoral field on a host of key issues. The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced the schedule for the assembly elections, to be held across three phases in late September, with results to be declared on October 4.

Statehood, security, civic issues remain key concerns in Jammu & Kashmir
Statehood, security, civic issues remain key concerns in Jammu & Kashmir

At its core, the battle will be over two issues: the BJP, which runs the Union government, will seek to establish that since 2019, when Article 370 was effectively abrogated and the region split into two UTs, terror attacks and civilian casualties have reduced, there has been better and wider penetration of welfare schemes, and normalcy has returned even to Kashmir Valley. Regional parties as well as the national Opposition, such as the Congress, will seek to establish that nothing has changed, and that there has been a crackdown on civil liberties over the past five years. A controversial recent move to give the Lieutenant Governor a key role in important decisions, even over the elected government of the UT, is also likely to become a poll issue.

The first key factor for political parties across the board, political party leaders said, will be the return of statehood for Jammu & Kashmir. Leaders of regional parties such as the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have demanded a return to full state status. On Friday, NC chairperson Farooq Abdullah said not just his party, but all regional outfits demand statehood. “It is the government of India’s promise that statehood will be returned,” he said. To be sure, top leaders of the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have, in the run up to the elections, said that statehood would follow the assembly elections.

On June 20, Modi, while speaking at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar, said the people of Jammu & Kashmir will now be able to elect their local representatives to get their problems addressed. “The time isn’t far away when, through your votes, you will be able to elect your own government in Jammu & Kashmir,” he said, adding that the Union territory would soon become a state again.

But the elections also come at a time when Jammu in particular has been roiled by terror attacks, especially over the last year. Only on Wednesday, Army Captain Deepak Singh was killed in an encounter in Doda district, taking the number of security personnel killed in action across Jammu to 13 this year alone. Senior police officers have said that there are a group of between 50 and 60 terrorists from Pakistan that have successfully infiltrated into Jammu between April and May.

Congress general secretary Mir Iqbal said security is the main issue in Jammu region. “There should be special focus on the security in the backdrop of recent attacks. The security situation is deteriorating in the region and people are very concerned about back-to-back attacks,” he said.

Political leaders admitted that while the security situation in Kashmir has improved in the past five years, pointing to a successful parliamentary election campaign earlier this year, there were still emotional issues of people being in jail . “There are many people that have been arrested and are kept in various jails in Jammu & Kashmir or outside. Even the MP from Baramulla, Rashid Engineer, continues to be in jail despite his successful campaign behind bars. This will develop into a key issue,” a senior leader of a regional party said, asking not to be named.

Beyond these broader questions of political identity, key civic issues such as electricity and employment will also be central to the campaign. Multiple political parties, including NC and PDP, have claimed that the region has an increasingly erratic power supply.

“The government has increased rates to such an extent that a consumer who was paying 300 is being forced to pay 1,500. Many people are unable to pay their bills in Kashmir,” PDP block president Mohammad Shafi said.

Leaders also said that the past few years have been marred by irregularities in recruitment examinations, which the Opposition plans to use to attack the Union government that has been at the helm in the Union territory. In July 2022, the selection process for the JKSSB was cancelled after allegations of fraud. In 2023, the government cancelled the selection processes of two more recruitment exercises – for recruitment to the Service Selection Board (SSB) and the financial accounts assistants and junior engineers.

Naveed Bukhtiyar, advocate and social activist, said a lot of young educated youth are concerned about this issue. “I think the political parties will not only highlight it but also include in their party manifesto on how they seekj to address this issue concerning the youth,” Bukhtiyar said.

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