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| Are elections to be fair or all is fair in elections? | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Apr 15
When the National Conference won the keenly contested Assembly poll in 1977 Sheikh Abdullah had stated that “everything is fair in love and war”while throwing light on reports that some senior National Conference leaders had wooed voters by showing them rock salt pieces from Pakistan and others had carried the holy book urging people to vote for the National Conference.
History is replete with instances when during the elections in Jammu and Kashmir political leaders have raised extraneous slogans and adopted dubious ways for garnering peoples’support.And if the PDP leadership has been advocating the need for dual control on Kashmir or joint management it is part of its strategy to win the support of people in the Kashmir valley which has 46 constituencies.
A few months ago while supporting the idea of self-rule for Kashmir the Finance Minister,Tariq Hameed Karra,had mooted the idea of common currency in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan administered Kashmir.Later when the shiva sena and the BJP held protest demonstrations in Jammu while condemning Karra’s statement the Finance Minister clarified that he wanted a common currency for the entire south Asian region on the pattern European currency.
And now the PDP patron,Mufti Mohd.Sayeed,has gone a step further by proposing that Pakistani currency be made applicable in Jammu and Kashmir.The idea behind it is said to be simply to raise the level of Pakistani factor in the ensuing Assembly election.In fact the two mainstream political parties,the National Conference and the PDP,have been in the forefront of those trying to strengthen relevance of Pakistan in the Kashmir situation.The two organizations have started hijacking the separatists’ agenda by playing up Pakistan card in the Kashmir valley.
President National Conference,Omar Abdullah,had,initially,no interest in attending the recent pugwash conference in Islamabad but when he learnt that his political rival Ms Mehbooba Mufti was participating in the conference he too flew to Islamabad so that Mehbooba was not able to use the Pakistan card for wooing the voters.
However,Omar Abdullah preferred to play safe during his stay in Pakistan while Mehbooba utilized her visit fully by interacting with Pakistan Prime Minister and POK leader,Sardar Qayoom Khan.
Reports said that in its eagerness to prevent the PDP leaders from taking advantage of strengthening Pakistan factor in Kashmir senior National Conference functionaries have suggested to party patron,Dr Farooq Abdullah,to avoid making plain speaking while blaming militants and separatists for having fomented turmoil and violence in Kashmir.
While the National Conference and the PDP leadership is trying to play up issues that could serve as music to the earks of Islamabad and militants,the BJP and other fundamentalist groups in the Jammu region leave no stone unturned in projecting the PDP and the NC as the enemies of people.This is being done to woo voters in the Jammu region.
Political observers here are of the view that as the election date draws close political leaders will come forward with bigger extraneous slogans.No wonder that even a cabinet Minister,Hakim Mohd.Yasin,has supported tripartite talks saying that not bilateral but trilateral talks could settle the Kashmir issue. |
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