M A I N   N E W S

Big underage turnout
Aditi Tandon writes from Sonawari/Bandipora

Hundreds of school students voted in the first phase of the elections in Bandipora's Sonawari segment on Monday. They had no idea they were not authorized to vote before they turned 18. But they did. None of them carried photo I-cards. — Tribune photo by Aditi Tandon

Elections in the valley have always been interesting to watch. So they were all this day — throwing up new trends, new images, and several new voters. The last category — made up of school students — was in fact the big find of the day, and the most vital as well.

There was hardly a polling booth in Sonawari or Bandipora, where underage voters were not detected by The Tribune that today traveled the length and breadth of the two districts. In many booths of Sonawari, a former stronghold of counterinsurgents, which polled a heavy 45 per cent today, primary and high school students were found to have cast their votes; several others had queued up, voting slips in hand.

The largest number of underage voters was discovered at the Pushwari polling booth in Sonawari, where students of classes VII, VIII and Xth had either stamped the ballot or were awaiting their turn. Among them was Rubina, a 15-year-old girl of Naidkhai village, which is the home of Sonawari’s last MLA and deputy speaker Mohd Akbar Lone of the National Conference.

Lone was present at the booth when this correspondent reached the spot. He, however, rubbished the allegations of booth capturing leveled by the rival PDP supporters. Soon, the booth was engulfed in a major struggle between the NC and the PDP, whose candidate from Sonawari Yasir Reshi was manhandled by NC workers.

A huge contingent of paramilitary forces had to be called in to control the situation which became worse, thanks to the evidence of bogus voting, and the heavy presence of anti-election campaigners who were eventually arrested. There were reports that the EVMs had also been damaged.

The story of scuffles was common at other booths, where the workers of all major political parties were seen influencing the voters in one way or the other. The most vulnerable of all today were the underage voters like the 15-year-old Mumtaza, who cast her ballot at Gund Jehangir polling booth today.

A class X student of High School Shahgun in Sonawari district, Mumtaza told The Tribune that her entire family had been forced by a local candidate to vote. “I know I can’t vote before I am 18, but my family was under pressure. I got the voting slip and I voted.” Several other cases came to light where underage voters had been shown to be above 18 years in the voters list.

One such case was of Kulsuma, a 15-year-old student, who cast her vote at the Rakha Sham polling booth in Sonawari — a booth that did not register a very high voting percentage. Kulsuma was shown as 35 in the voters’ list. At the same booth, another underage voter Mohd Ashiq Dar, actually a class VIII student, had been shown as 30 years old. Even the PDP agent at on duty here — a 21-year-old Firdaus Ahmad — was shown in the electoral list as 35 years of age.

Such cases of misrepresentation abounded in the Valley today, with most of the voters saying they were under pressure from one political party or the other to vote in huge numbers. The step was taken to counter anti-election campaigners.

Even at Sauderkote Bala polling booth close to Hajin in Sonawari (where anti-election sentiment was very strong), a large number of underage voters had cast their ballot. Among them was Sajjad, a class X student of Ajas High School, who said he voted because his entire family voted.

Part of the underage voting passed off as legitimate due to the absence of EPIC cards which made physical verification difficult. As Muzaffar Ahmad Wani, a class IX student, who voted at Ganstan village polling booth in Sonawari’s Sumbal area said, “Party agents are giving us slips, and we are casting the vote. There is no problem.”

In many other cases, the voters’ names in the list were found to be different from their real names. One such case involved Rosia, a class IX student of Gund Jehangir high school, whose name in the voters list was mentioned as Misra and her age as 18.

The trend repeated itself throughout Bandipora and Sonawari, which polled a decent 42 per cent each despite boycott calls by separatists.

 

 

Freedom for some, jail for others
Human rightist Imroz arrested
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Bandhipora police picks up human rights defender Pervez Imroz. — AFP photo

Bandipora, November 17
It was not such a red-letter day for democracy in the valley. Just when it seemed everything was going fine, with both the pro-election and the anti-election forces enjoying their space, the Bandipora police cracked down heavily, and on the wrong people, apparently.

It was around 12 noon when Pervez Imroz, a well-known human rights activist in Kashmir, had come out of the polling station in the main Bandipora town. In less than five minutes of his exit from the station, where he had gone to monitor the “freeness and fairness of polls”, Imroz was behind bars. He was alleged to have been leading an anti-election rally, which was attended by over 50 women among others from the area.

Whereas SP Bandipora Junaid Mehmud told The Tribune that Imroz had been picked up because he was “fanning the pro-freedom and anti-poll sentiment and was asking people not to vote”, the real seemed different. Imroz, along with six local volunteers (two of whom — Aijaz Mir and Firdaus Sofi were later detained with him), was moving behind the boycott rally in the town just before he was taken in. The police, however, came up to him, and thrashed him after finally making the arrest.

Till filing this report, Imroz, who heads the J&K Coalition of Civil Societies (CCS), had not been let off. “He has been detained without any FIR or charge. The police will have to explain this,” said Khurram Pervez, second-in-command at the coalition. Junaid Mehmud later said the police would let Imroz go, as his offence was bailable.

Important here is the history of detentions that Imroz has faced in the past. The leader of human rights campaign in the valley, he has long been espousing the cause of the voiceless — especially those killed in custody and those who disappeared over the past several years of conflict in the valley. Very recently, Imroz’s house was under attack from people who are yet to be identified and punished.

That apart - the man has been of late been in news for his Coalition’s interest in monitoring elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Since 2002, J&K CCS has been monitoring elections in the state. Their 2002 Assembly election report and later the 2004 parliamentary election report was not taken well by the powers-that-be because it contained several references to how the police and the Army had coerced people to vote.

Significantly, the coalition even lost one of its volunteers — Asia — during the 2004 elections when the vehicle, in which she was traveling, was targeted in a mine blast. Kurram Pervez lost his leg in the accident. He had to get it amputated.

“We feel this is just another attack on our freedom to monitor elections and reveal the truth,” Khurram today told The Tribune. While he worried for his president, detained in the Bandipora police station, the local police and the civil authorities were contacted by several international human rights groups who sought to free Imroz.

Among the first to get in touch with the administration was Frontline Defenders from Ireland, an international human rights protector. Amnesty International is also posted on the matter.

 

 

J&K Diary
12-yr-old leads anti-poll rally

The strongest anti-election rally of the day was led by a 12-year-old from Sumbal. Raju, a class V student of Government Middle School, Ubaid, was followed by close to 200 locals, who laid siege of Anderkut High School, which housed four polling stations. Chanting familiar slogans: “No election, no selection” and “Geelani will decide”, the little one was caught unawares when the pro-freedom campaigners clashed with the police. He escaped, but his friend Isfaq Ahmad (13) was hit on the head and rushed to the local hospital. Some 30 persons were injured in different clashes in the Valley today. Among them was the son of Sonawari’s 2002 MLA Akbar Lone, whose supporters fought with the PDP’ supporters, which alleged booth capturing.

500 without votes

At Anderkut village in Sonawari, a peculiar problem came to the fore. Some 400 residents were out on the roads, protesting the non-issuance of voter slips. Interestingly, all of them were carrying the EPIC cards issued to them in the 2002 elections and demanding to be accommodated. They were, however, left out on grounds that they had shifted residence. The voters alleged they had been left out because they were Shias and were supporting a particular independent candidate from Sonawari — something the others did not like.

Triple takes at Garoora

The native village of former counterinsurgent Usman Majid, who was elected to the Assembly in 2002 from Bandipora, was found voting very actively today. The women had come out in large numbers to support Majid, who has quite a clout in the area. There were many in the queue who were busy removing the ink mark so they could go back to vote. Triple takes at the EVM were very common in Garoora, which Majid converted into a model village during his tenure as MLA. It polled over 50 per cent.

Safapora surprises

The former stronghold of Jamait-e-Islami Safapora today surprised people with its fairly decent turnout. The area was once heavily militant infested. But in today’s elections, it wore the true colours of democracy. Where on the one hand were the pro-freedom campaigners who chose to stay away and protest instead (they were prevented from arching), on the other those interested in polling came out and voted in huge numbers. People were very clear that elections are for governance and the issue of freedom is separate. While most of the voters also said they wanted freedom, they admitted that elections were a must and votes could not be wasted. — Aditi Tandon