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| Winds of change in Kashmir | | | The brisk and incident free polling during the first phase of Panchayat elections in eight blocks,five in Kashmir and three in Jammu,is an eye opener on many a count.First,its shows that the writ of the separatists in the state,especially in the Kashmir valley,does not run as smoothly as it used to during the five months of civilian strife in the valley last year.The separatists,especially the hardliners headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani,had given a call to people to boycott the Panchayat elections.In fact they had been repeating these calls for boycott even before campaigning for the election had begun.When there is a call for poll boycott one had not expected 75 to 86 per cent polling in some pockets of the Kashmir valley. Secondly,once again people have demonstrated their preferences.For a change they have shown their love for getting village development activities ensured through effective Panchayat committees.In fact people in the state,especially in the Kashmir valley,have ignored the separatists call for poll boycott.It has happened in 2002 and 2008 Assembly elections and the two Lok Sabha elections.When 10 years ago the Panchayat elections were held the process could be completed in hardly 50 per cent of the Panchayat committees because of security related problems.Since major portion of the state had not elected Panchayat bodies the then Government thought it better to dissolve the elected committees and go in for fresh elections.
Whatever may have been the reason or reasons the Panchayat elections were not held during the last nine years.And when it was held a decade ago it had been conducted after a gap of 23 years.This way people in the rural belts would have missed the elected Panchayat committees.They would have missed to see their favourite men and women getting elected as Panches and Sarpanches.They had,by now,come to know that the state lost hefty funds from the centre which are released directly to the elected Panchayat committees.People shown interest in the elections even when the state Government had not incorporated 73rd and 74th amendments in the Panchayat Raj Act.The brisk and violence free Panchayat elections in the first phase did not hit the newspaper headlines in the state.It was so not because people had not cared to treat it as an important event but its importance had been sidelined by the elections to the six seats in the Legislative council where a party like the BJP voted for the NC and the Congress candidates.
A free and heavy polling during the first phase may not necessarily be repeated in other areas of the valley.But by and large people do not seem to be in a mood to remain indoors during the polling.They want better drains,roads,water supply and other civic amenities.Does the brisk and violence free poll indicate change in the political and security scenario ?Does it indicate a change from difficult to better times ?Does it indicate change from violence to peace ?Well since politics like culture in Kashmir is based on wave,pro-poll or anti-poll,pro-Government or anti-Government it will be difficult to treat Panchayat poll as the beginning of winds of change.One thing is clear.Majority of people,especially in the rural areas,seem to be fed with violence and all that has flowed with it.They want peace and progress.It is this urge that has allowed a BJP study group,led by former President Rajnath Singh,to move freely in Srinagar visiting the historic Hazratbal shrine and the Gurdwara in Rainawari.Equally important has been their visit to the house of Maulana Showkat Ahmed,who was killed in an IED blast near the mosque last Friday where they expressed grief over the loss.The BJP leaders assured the bereaved family that they would persuade the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister to order a thorough probe.And already the separatists have given vent to their displeasure against those who engineered the killing.It is upto the state and central Governments to ensure that the winds of change,that one sees in Kashmir,do not prove a short lived affair.It can be so if people-friendly programmes were introduced and initiated by the Government.
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