Candidates of separatist background: Kashmir voters showedthem their right place

SRINAGAR: Not a single of the candidates, who had shifted from a separatist background to the mainstream electoral politics, has been elected by the Kashmiri voters for the Union Territory’s Legislative Assembly in the recent elections.
Even as some people of terrorist and separatist background entered the mainstream political system and contested elections from 1996 to 2008, it was for the first time that over a dozen of them jumped into the electoral fray in Kashmir.
Awami Ittihad Party (AIP) founder ‘Engineer’ Rashid moved out of Peoples Conference—which was a principal constituent of the executive council of Hurriyat Conference from 1993 to 2003—in 2008 and contested the first Assembly election from his home segment of Langate in Kupwara district. He was elected in 2008 as well as in 2014. He contested but lost the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 and 2019.
In 2019, he was booked in a terror funding case and remained lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail for over 5 years. In May-June this year, he was permitted to contest the Lok Sabha election from North Kashmir. Mounting his campaign on a wave of sentiment and sympathy, his sons and colleagues helped him win from jail. He defeated National Conference’s Omar Abdullah as also PC’s and PDP’s candidates with a massive margin.
Rashid is known for his separatist inclination alongside his slogans for ‘Raishumari’ (Plebiscite) and ‘resolution of the Kashmir dispute’ even after winning two elections over the oath of upholding India’s sovereignty and integrity in Jammu and Kashmir. Despite his brazen promotion of the Pakistan narrative, he was left free to contest the Assembly elections.
Rashid claimed to have uprooted Omar’s NC and Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP and fielded candidates in over 30 segments in Kashmir. Even as his brother Sheikh Khurshid won with a thin margin in Langate, almost all others supported by Rashid forfeited their security deposits. Sheikh Ashiq, the candidate Rashid fielded to defeat Omar in Ganderbal, polled just 963 votes. Omar defeated him with a massive margin of 31,300 votes.
Sarjan Ahmad Wagay aka Sarjan Barkati, the face of the 2016 anti-India Burhan turmoil and a known virulent separatist, was also permitted to contest from jail against Omar Abdullah in Ganderbal. Barkati was next only to Syed Ali Shah in his anti-Indian and pro-Pakistan and pro-Azadi speeches in 2016. He secured a paltry 438 against Omar’s ton of 32,289 votes.
In Beerwah, however, Barkati saved his security deposit as he polled 12,282 votes. Ironically, it only helped the NC candidate Dr Shafi Ahmad Wani to defeat the otherwise strongest candidate Nazir Ahmad Khan. Khan, who enjoyed AIP’s support, secured over 15,000 votes but both lost to the NC candidate with big margins.
Senior Hurriyat leader Aga Syed Hassan’s son, Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi of PDP, was defeated by NC’s Omar Abdullah with a massive margin of 18,485 votes in Budgam. Former Hurriyat/PC leader Dr Ghulam Mohammad Hubbi’s son, advocate Javed Mohammad Hubbi, was defeated by NC’s stalwart Abdul Rahim Rather in Chrar-e-Sharief with a margin of 34,662 votes. The real fight in Chrar-e-Sharief was between NC’s Rather and PDP’s Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura.
In Baramulla, NC’s Javed Hassan Baig defeated AIP’s Shoaib Nabi Lone and former Deputy Chief Minister and his own uncle Muzaffar Hussain Baig with substantial margins. Jamaat-e-Islami supported candidate Abdul Rehman Shalla secured just 1,968 votes and forfeited his deposit.
In Central Shalteng, Srinagar, Zaffar Habib Dar of Jamaat-e-Islami background polled 886 votes and lost his security deposit. The NC-Congress alliance’s Tariq Hamid Karra defeated him with a massive margin of 18,047 votes.
In Pulwama, an Agriculture Extension Officer, Dr Talat Majid Allai, who comes from a strong Jamaat-e-Islami background, claimed to be contesting with the separatists’ support. For some time, he also remained associated with Apni Party. PDP’s Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra defeated him with a margin of 22,883 votes. The real contest remained between Parra and NC’s Mohammad Khalil Bandh.
In Zainapora, Shopian, Jamaat-e-Islami declared its support to the PDP rebel and independent candidate Aijaz Ahmad Mir. Reportedly Barkati’s cadre also supported Mir in the separatist stronghold wherefrom Mehbooba Mufti was returned in 2008. However, NC’s Showkat Hussain Ganai defeated Mir with a margin of 13,233 votes.
Zainapora-Kulgam-Shopian-Pulwama- Tral was some sort of a ‘liberated zone’ for Burhan Wani and Zakir and their commanders for a pretty long time. Wani filmed most of his jihadist videos and made them viral on social media from the same bastion in South Kashmir. NC won this seat back for the first time after 1996.
The toughest battle between a mainstream leader and a strong candidate of the separatist support was witnessed in Kulgam. The CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami was elected from Kulgam in 1996, 2002, 2008 and 2014. This time he was strongly contested by one Sayar Ahmad Rishi, who was formerly the head of Jamaat-e-Islami’s Department of Education and Training. Jamaat’s Abdul Razak Mir was elected from this area in 1972 and 1987.
However, Tarigami got 33,634 votes and defeated the Jamaat-e-Islami backed Sayar Ahmad Rishi with a margin of 7,838 votes.
Most of Er Rashid’s and Jamaat-e-Islami supported candidates forfeited their security deposits.

Updated On 10/10/2024 1:51:03 AM