Beerwah: Ahead of the second phase of Lok Sabha elections Thursday, the one district of Kashmir that political and security forces are warily watching is Budgam in the Srinagar constituency.
On 9 April 2017, when Srinagar voted in a parliamentary bypoll after its MP quit, violence in Budgam killed eight people, many of them young boys out for errands.
In the past, the district has defied the separatist call to boycott elections and voted in large numbers. But today, despite bad roads and chronic power shortage, the mood here is marked by political indifference.
“Eight of our boys were killed (in 2017) and no one blinked an eye,” said Mohammad Jabbar Malik, a local business-owner. “There has not been a single rally or a political party function in these areas because no politician can face our questions or meet our demand for justice,” he said.
“I will not be voting. All I want is justice,” added Amin Wani, a farmer whose youngest son Aqeel was among those killed.
Aqeel was a student of Class X, and wanted to study electronics like his elder brother Manzoor.
“Even that morning, he was called by the local mosque to fix the loudspeaker. After that, he went to buy medicines for his ailing mother and never came back,” Wani said, speaking to ThePrint at his residence in Churmujroo village, Budgam, some 40 km from Srinagar. “He was shot in the face.”
‘Challenges’
For the security forces deployed to ensure peaceful elections in the Valley, Budgam is only second in priority to south Kashmir, the hotbed of homegrown militants.
“There were some incidents of violence in the first phase of elections in north Kashmir,” a senior official of the CRPF told ThePrint. “But, overall, the situation was calm. The stone-pelting incidents that happened, the majority of them, happened after the polls were done. But now we are faced with greater challenges in south Kashmir and in Budgam.”
Budgam, which boasts of a fairly diverse population that comprises Sunnis, Shias, Sikhs and Kashmiri Pandits, is one of three Central Kashmir districts that constitute the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Srinagar and Ganderbal are the other two.
With 12.95 lakh registered voters, Srinagar is one of the state’s six constituencies, and one of two that vote in the second phase.
Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah of the National Conference is an MLA from Beerwah in Budgam, which is seen as a stronghold of the party. However, few cared when the National Conference held a rally here last week.
‘Can’t forget that day’
The Srinagar bypoll was held after Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MP Tariq Hameed Karra resigned to protest against civilian deaths in the clashes that followed the July 2016 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
Things went awry right from the morning of polling day, as two civilians died in clashes with security forces.
Clashes soon erupted in other parts of the region, and six more civilians were dead before the sun set that day.
“I can’t forget the day even if I want to,” said Mohammad Ashraf Mir, a resident of Ratsun whose 24-year-old son Nisar was killed that day.
“We heard that there was some stone-pelting in a polling booth set up in our area,” Mir told ThePrint, recalling the events of that April day.
“Nisar went to check on his younger brothers and so did I. We split up… when I couldn’t find my other two sons I decided to return,” he said.
“I heard a single round of fire when I reached home. My neighbour asked me what happened and I told him there was some unrest. I didn’t know the bullet whose sound I had just heard had pierced my son in his head,” Mir added.
The Srinagar constituency eventually recorded a voter turnout of just 7 per cent — Budgam’s turnout was 8.82 per cent, a far cry from the 39 per cent it registered in 2014 — and former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah, the president of the National Conference, was declared the winner.
However, the violence prompted serious debate in Srinagar and New Delhi over whether elections could be held in the state peacefully.
Amid these doubts, a scheduled bypoll for Anantnag, vacated by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti when she became chief minister after her father’s death in 2016, never took place and the seat remains vacant.
Also read: ‘Elections are haram’: Kashmiri militant groups ask voters to stay away from Lok Sabha polls
‘Taking all precautions’
The CRPF official ThePrint spoke to said security forces were doing their best to ensure the election passed off without incident this time around.
“We are taking all the necessary precautions to ensure a smooth election,” a senior CRPF official said.
Meanwhile, the state administration, currently under the governor, is worried about the prospect of a low voter turnout, especially after Baramulla registered a 5 per cent decline from 2014 in the first phase of voting.
“There are concerns, but we are sure that people will defeat threats of violent forces in the Valley to come out and vote in large numbers,” a senior state government official said.
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