Pulwama hopefuls focus on security, dignity, development

Pulwama is set to vote in the first of the three phases of the Assembly elections on September 18, and leaders cutting across party lines have been speaking out on matters that matter the most to people — security, dignity and progress.

As the candidates talk about identity, dignity, Article 370 and “unjust arrests” during campaigning, they do not lose sight of the immediate issues — unemployment, rising electricity bills, water crisis and development.

The Public Safety Act (PSA) has been a sore point with the residents of the region, and the candidates have been assuring voters that they would act to rid them of this stringent law.

Arshad Bhat, the 34-year-old BJP candidate from the Rajpora constituency, says that he’s working towards “getting the PSA repealed”. At a public gathering at Nikloora village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, Bhat tries to strike a chord with the people. “The PSA has been misused by the previous governments here. I am working towards getting it repealed,” says Bhat. “If a case is registered against one person, it means trouble for the entire family, and even other relatives.”

“A large number of families are in trouble because of the recent trend of the police not granting verification if any of the applicant’s family member has an adverse police record,” he adds.

Expanding on the issue that’s highly emotive for the voters of Pulwama, he stresses the need to inform Delhi about these problems so that the PSA could be repealed.

Villages in Pulwama district are buzzing with campaign songs as candidates like Bhat are making strong efforts to woo the electorate, and he is not the only leader to raise concerns over the plight of the Valley residents due to the PSA and difficulties in obtaining police verification. Until a few years ago, militants had a strong hold on the district and their activities had led to stringent law-enforcement efforts in Pulwama.

The National Conference’s manifesto promises to free Jammu and Kashmir of the PSA if it came to power. Ghulam Mohiuddin Mir of the National Conference, who is contesting for the Rajpora seat with the support of the Congress, says his party’s aim is to restore the erstwhile state’s dignity and respect — these, he says, were lost after the abrogation of Article 370. “We have promised to repeal the PSA as well,” he adds.

He claims that young men are compelled to report to police stations whenever a Central minister or the Prime Minister visits Kashmir. “We aim to end this problem of reporting to police stations in case of high-level visits,” says Mir.

He adds that residents of some villages face great difficulties because of the Army’s practice of closing the main roads in the evening. He also lists the scarcity of clean drinking water and unemployment among the key problems in the district.

PDP’s Waheed Para, who is set to contest from Pulwama seat, says the party’s campaign and politics are more focused on the pain and anxiety of Kashmiri people.

At Khandaypora village in Pulwama, Para also talks about the increasing electricity bills, potholed roads, scarcity of water and unemployment. He promises macadamised roads, employment generation and development. “This is one aspect,” he tells the villagers. “The other is about dignity, dispossession, our rights that have been snatched from us. We will strive to get them back, but we will also strive for water, electricity and the development of Pulwama.”

The previous state governments had done nothing for the people, laments Arshad Bhat, the BJP candidate for Rajpora — for instance, nothing has been done to end or lower unemployment in the district, he says. He also wants to see individuals who suffered pellet injuries during the 2016 protests in the Valley being provided succour. “The villagers face a lot of difficulties when the Army blocks the roads here at night,” he adds.

In Tral, which has over 10,000 Sikh voters, the candidates focus on the town’s infrastructure as well. “Tral is an unplanned town and we aim to make it beautiful. I want to bring it on the tourism map,” says Surinder Singh, a senior Congress leader who is the joint candidate of the Congress-NC alliance. “It has a lot of scope of being a tourist attraction as it is connected with Pahalgam and Dachigam through the mountains.”

Singh adds that rising unemployment and inflation are among the other major problems that need to be addressed.

The district has four Assembly segments — Pulwama, Rajpora, Pampore and Tral — and 4,07,637 eligible voters. In 2014, the PDP had won in all four Assembly constituencies.