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Monitoring of Election in Kashmir

In June 2002 the Indian government announced that it was going to hold elections in Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir. These elections were being held by the Indian Government to show to the outside world that Kashmiris were integrated into the Indian constitution system and they were ruled by a government elected by them. While at one level by participating in election the people of the war torn region of Jammu and Kashmir could change the local government headed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah which was seen by many as corrupt and inefficient, on the other hand, participation in this election also meant that the peoples of Jammu accepted the constitutional framework of India. The situation was further complicated as various militant and non-militant organisation of Jammu and Kashmir gave a call for boycott of the election.

In order to develop a correct strategy and response to the boycott call, SAFHR sent a three- member team to Kashmir in July 2002. The team visited all the eight districts of the valley where the boycott call had the most impact. The team held extensive discussions with representatives of political parties, lawyers, doctors, teachers, business people, media persons and students on the question of boycott of the elections to the legislature announced by the Indian government. It was clear that most of the people were sceptical about the fairness of the electoral process and were pessimistic about the result and as a result did not want to be involved. At the same time there were others who saw this election as a step towards legitimisation of Indian control over Jammu and Kashmir and therefore, did not want to participate. However, in all the discussions it also came through that the people were keen for even small respite and wanted a local government which would be better that the virtually non-functioning and corrupt government led by Dr. Abdullah. It seemed if there was any indication that the process of election would be fair, many in the valley, even in areas where the militants were strong were willing to participate. In other words the team felt that the ordinary person on the street was interested in seeing a change of government in Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir.

SAFHR took its findings to the members of JKFCSO, the Coalition of Civil Society organisations in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and other organisations of the Kashmiri people on both sides of the Line of Control. The issues emerging from this report were discussed and several civil society organisations decided that it was necessary to create a condition for free and fair election in Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir. Some even gave a call for people's participation in the election and also called on the militant organisation not to interfere with peoples' democratic rights. The Other Media, Kashmir Monitor, JKFCSO and several other civil society organisations of Jammu and Kashmir as well as many Indian human rights organisations came together to form an independent team of observers to monitor the election process. They announced that several teams of independent elections observers would be present in Jammu and Kashmir during the election and widely report on any kind of violations by Indian security forces as well as by militants. Several teams of election observers were sent to Jammu and Kashmir. The presence of these teams and regular press briefings during the polling acted as a safeguard against intimidation of voters and other forms of malpractice by the Indian security forces and the agents of the ruling party. As the election results show, the people of the valley were able to exercise their vote in relatively free atmosphere. Farooq Abdullah's government was defeated and for the first time since the beginning of the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, a democratic government comes to power.