Srinagar, November 10
In the Valley, they say, the only thing stationery is change. And even when everything appears still on the surface, underneath a lot has gone around. One man in Bandipora, the newly-carved out district of Kashmir, which goes to polls in the first phase this November 17, knows exactly what this kind of a change really means.
He is Usman Majid, the winner of Bandipora seat in the 2002 assembly elections, and the last surviving link to the Valley’s infamous Ikhwani (surrendered militant) movement. Where in the last elections, as many as 15 candidates contesting from Bandipora (then a part of Baramulla district) had roots in militancy, this time Majid is practically the only one in that league.
Seeking reelection from the same segment, Majid remains the last flag-bearer of a wave which Kuka Parray, a former militant-turned-Ikhwani-turned politician started in the valley by engineering mass surrender of former militants who helped the Indian Army nab active terrorists. Having done that, Parray founded the Awami League party, on whose ticket Majid won the last assembly elections from Bandipora.
Today, Parray is no more (he was gunned down by militants in September 2003), nor is his Awami League. But Majid carries on the legacy of hope under the newly-formed political outfit called the People’s National Front (PNF). Interestingly, Parray’s 26-year-old son Imtiaz is now contesting from his father’s constituency Sumbal Sonawari (from Bandipora) on the PNF ticket.
In this first battle of nerves which has him pitted against National Conference heavyweight and deputy speaker in the last assembly Akbar Lone, Imtiaz has the support of Majid, who is selling development as the PNF’s hallmark.
In his own constituency, Majid has tried to make some difference. But the going has not been easy given his history. “We have been the victims, the tools in the fight for freedom and now the media for change. We have seen it all, done it all,” says Majid, referring to his past as a surrendered militant – a term he recalls with a certain sense of dislike. He is however happy to be among the few in his league to have not just survived but also challenged political titans, including those he is fighting this time.
Although there are 19 candidates in the
fray from Bandipora, the contest really is between four including Majid of the PNF. He is pitted against PDP’s Nizamuddin Bhat, a member of the legislative council; NC’s Ghulam Rasul Naz, a two-time MLA from the segment and Congress’ Habibullah Bhat, a former member of the legislative council.
The scenario in the segment stands in stark contrast to that in 2002, when five former militants (out of the total of six) including Majid were slogging it out in the poll arena. A former leader of the Students Liberation Front, Majid had then defeated his nearest rival Habibullah Bhatt of the Congress by a margin of 253 votes. But Majid remembers having defeated NC’s Javed Hussain Shah better. Shah was a former leader of Al Jehad in Bandipora. He was killed by militants just 17 days before Kuka Parray was gunned down on September 13, 2003.
“Things change, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. We are all aspiring for better change,” Majid says as he campaigns to retain his political edge in Bandipora, a segment that saw the highest number of ex-militants fielded in the 2002 assembly polls. The situation no longer remains the same.
