Article: Farcical elections and Kashmir dispute
Muhammad Sultan Butt
Elections are the most popular way to choose or elect representatives in any democratic society. But India which claims to be the world’s largest democracy is in fact a colonial power. This imperialist power having hegemonic and expansionist designs has not only deprived Kashmiris of all democratic and basic rights but has enslaved them on the basis of military might. Instead of implementing UN resolutions, India has been using different tactics to consolidate its illegal hold and to make these resolutions ineffective or obsolete.
It is an established fact that Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute and there are at least 14 UN resolutions which UNSC has passed from time to time since 1947. These resolutions categorically state that Kashmiris must be given the right to decide their future through a fair and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices. When India held elections in Kashmir in 1951 and tried to present it as a substitute for the right of self-determination, the UN again passed a resolution and rejected Indian claims.
To confuse international opinion about the Kashmir issue, India through its biased media and diplomatic crop has been projecting the sham polls as genuine expressions of people’s opinions. The puppet regimes installed on different occasions through sham elections have nothing to do with dispute resolution. These puppet regimes are used by India to prolong its illegal occupation on IIOJK.
Elections under the auspices of India have never been a solution to the Kashmir problem in the past nor can they be a solution in the future. It is an irrefutable fact that elections can be by no stretch of imagination considered as alternatives for a plebiscite.
India held another sham election in Kashmir recently. How were these shameful elections held? It would be difficult to trace parallels in the history of democracy. It was an army operation. A show of force by the Indian state. A cordon and search operation of a bigger magnitude. India has over one million trigger-happy troops in the occupied region. But not satisfied with the one to five 1:5 army civilian ratio, more troops were brought from various Indian states, and the entire region was brought under siege and looked like a concentration camp. It was a ballot under the shadows of bayonets. The so-called elections were scheduled in three phases with a view to conducting them under the shadows of more and more guns.
The recent polls conducted in IIOJK are viewed as attempts to legitimize the occupation. The Modi regime which is hell bent to annihilate Muslims and impose the Hindutva agenda in the region made many changes to manipulate elections and get their desired result. These Post-2019 changes are aimed at reshaping the electoral & demographic landscape in the disputed region. The Modi regime introduced many new domicile laws and electoral changes that threatened IIOJK’s demographic fabric.
Temporary voting rights were given to thousands of outsider Hindus which eroded the political autonomy of Kashmiris. The powers of LG were expanded which undermined any future elected government’s authority.
In the global history of democracy, the elections held in disputed regions have no parallel. It would be too mild to call these elections a sham or farcical, it was in fact a crackdown on voters.
While Kashmir continues to bleed, while humanity continues to be impaled under bayonets, while Eve’s daughters continue to be dishonored in broad daylight by Indian savage forces, while villages and towns continue to cinder and smolder, while youth continue to be tomahawked in torture centers, India is trumpeting of having restored democracy in Kashmir by holding shame elections.
APHC leadership which has been languishing in jails for years has made it clear that elections in IIOJK under military occupation are merely a charade and India’s primary goal in holding elections is to strengthen its illegal occupation. These sham polls cannot replace the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination. India frequently stages electoral spectacles in Kashmir to deceive the international community. Illegal, unilateral actions of Aug 5, 2019, illustrate India’s disregard for the Kashmiris’ aspirations. Kashmiris make sacrifices not for elections but for their right to a plebiscite endorsed by the UN. Conducting elections in disputed regions does not alter the region’s disputed status. If the Indian claim that Kashmiris are satisfied with India is true then the Indian must hold a plebiscite under UN supervision so that this matter is resolved forever. It is a success of freedom-loving Kashmiris that Pakistan and the organization of Islamic Corporation (OIC) also rejected the election facade in Kashmir and made it clear that elections are not a substitute for the right to self-determination mandated by the UN.
Now as far as Kashmiris are concerned they have rendered unparalleled sacrifices for freedom and they will never forget these supreme sacrifices and will continue their just struggle come what may. The mission of over four hundred thousand martyrs will be accomplished at every cost. Kashmiris believe that by the grace and help of Almighty Allah their struggle which is based on truth and justice will succeed in near future and India will face shameful and humiliating defeat. Insha Allah.
Note: (The writer of this article is J&K Insaf Party vice chairman and an APHC-AJK leader)
