On the face of it, however, it appears as if the occupied people have succeeded by the whisker to thwart, for the time being, one more attempt by New Delhi to completely assimilate their land in the Indian Union, thanks largely to an unusually large turnout officially reported to be about 70 per cent. The occupied people usually resort to boycott or disruption of the poll process to undermine the legitimacy of such elections. However, sensing that a repeat of these tactics this time would enable the BJP to win enough seats to form a government on its own and then mange to get rid of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that had so far protected the occupied territory from being gobbled by India, the people of the occupied land came out of their houses seemingly in droves to stop the BJP’s political onslaught with their votes. Under Article 370, the Indian parliament is obliged to seek the concurrence of the Kashmir Assembly in all matters except defence, foreign affairs, finance and communication. Also, this Article can be removed from the Indian Constitution only if the Kashmir Assembly itself were to vote in favour of its elimination. That is what the BJP has promised to manage in its rallies during the Indian elections held earlier this year. One strongly hopes that the BJP’s designs will be defeated in light of the results of the Kashmir state elections.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (20)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@Hellite:
"we r hoping that Pakistani establishment & ppl wake up and denigrate the terror infrastructure/ extremist ideology prevalent in ur society"
Last time I checked (wikipedia.com), INDIA had the biggest and most heinous terror infrastructure in South Asia established under the name of RAW. It was India behind most of the terrorist and secessionist oufits in the region, whether it was Mukti Bahini in East Pakistan, or LTTE, TELO, EPRFL etc. in Sri Lanka in the past, or presently Baloch terrorist/separatist groups BLA, BRA etc., or a cluster of terrorists groups working under the umbrella of TTP. All were financed, trained, armed, and provided with logistics and intelligence by the Indian agencies. Don't you have to wake up first, if you want to wake the others up?
@Gp65:
"2) 66% people voted ... giving lie to the hypothesis that these people do not consider India their home"
None of the 25 BJP elected members is Muslim and all won in non-Muslim majority areas. Congress won 12 seats -- 11 Muslims, PDP won 28 seats -- all Muslims, JKNC 15 -- all Muslim, other parties and Independent 7 -- 6 Muslims and 1 Hindu. The results clearly show the majority of Kashmiris have rejected BJP's plan to abolish Article-370 and merger of the state in the Indian Union, otherwise they would have voted BJP candidates instead of the opposing ones. BJP got only 28.7% votes/seats and those rejecting BJP policies got 72.5% (Reference: Elections India website).
"3) A former separatist Sajjad Lone contested the election and considers Modi like an elder brother"
But his brother Modi didn't consider him worth giving BJP ticket, or he didn't ask for the favor?
I see Indian Trolls has been let loose by their government over here. They have elected a person who has blood of 2000 Muslims in Gujarat. Modi was barred to enter USA for decade and rightly so. Indians talk about democracy and being a secular State but BJP represents the far out Hindu religious extremism and it is on the rise. As assimilation of Kashmir by any means go, the world knows that it is a disputed area and there got to be some rights given to the people of Kashmir to decide their fate. Kashmir is not Goa which Indians took with the barrel of gun. India will NEVER ALLOW THE WORLD MEDIA into Kashmir to know and present the facts to the world about how the Kashmir people feel about their subjugation by India. If Indians feel that people of Kashmir want to join their union then why are they so afraid to let the world media go in there and let it be known about their findings. So here we go and talk about the largest democracy in the world as they never hesitate to tell the world. No wonder India never stood up for the plight of Palestinians because they know that Israel is gobbling up their lands by force which they intend to do in Kashmir but it will not happen.
@Real Truth: Indians are not gloating over the indescribable horror of Peshawar tragedy, we r hoping that Pakistani establishment & ppl wake up and denigrate the terror infrastructure/ extremist ideology prevalent in ur society.
Kashmiris in the Valley have suffered more coz of militancy stoked by Pak than anything else..terrorist carrying out bomb blasts kill innocents & not just the army as these monsters claim to b their mission.. Let's hope Pakistani establishment understands that letting Kashmir issue aside wud actually be beneficial not just for Pak but also fr kashmiris in the valley and thus they wud b bttr off by giving up their selfish motives of inflaming insurgency
As far as Assam is concerned, Indians r worried abt it. However, the militants their do not enjoy the support of the establishment as well as popular support as enjoyed by LeT chief Hafiz & TTP & hopefully they will b taken care of soon enough
@Real Truth: recent election result made some people's mind out of control
Looks like someone has set all Indian trolls free!!! Unbelievable how these people are carrying chip on their shoulder!!! Anyone with an IQ of above 70 knows that its not just Pakistan, according to UN resolutions passed (but of course never implemented), this part Kashmir in India is "Occupied", yes "Occupied." And BTW, before you gloat over our tragedy in Peshawar, go worry about what's going on in Assam!!!
in the end all your ranting and raving couldn't keep BJP out of power in kashmir ,if that's what you are trying to say...well said and occupied people won't go for an election like in POK.
It is good to see that 70% of the voters have cast their votes and it has achieved what the voters intended.
\It is always good for everybody to participate in these exercises and achieve their goals.
Long live democracy
The election ( or selection ) process that takes place in POK is never so keenly watched or debated.
Most of the process there is rigged
There were six 'occupied' s including the one in the caption - as editor I would have included one in the title as well - 'Indian Kashmir elections' is a big faux pas.
I would have said : Occupied Kashmir: The people rise against BJP - something like that.
LOL at ET.
LoL! Such a small article with sooo many "occupied"! The only thing 'occupied' is delusion in your mindset. Do you really think people cannot see through these articles?
1) BJP got highest voteshare in the elections and increased its seats tally from 11 to 25.
2) 66% people voted in an election judged free and fair by all. This happened despite boycott calls by some separaists - giving lie to the hypothesis that these people do not consider India their home
3) A former separatist Sajjad Lone contested the election and considers Modi like an elder brother.
Based on these facts your hypothesis of Kashmiri people being 'occupied people' has no basis.
"Occupied people" policy? nothing changes. Business as usual Still long way to avoid future Peshawar
So called "occupied" people using voting rights to elect their government, while Free people of Pakistan still figuring out if the elections were rigged or not.
This kind of editorials are not good for the people of Kashmir... these kind of divisive mindset only the root cause of people's sufferings in South Asian region, that too on the basis of religion, the people should be allowed to integrate... if this region has to prosper divisive mindset should be stopped.
"On the face of it, however, it appears as if the occupied people have succeeded by the whisker to thwart, for the time being, one more attempt by New Delhi to completely assimilate their land in the Indian Union, thanks largely to an unusually large turnout officially reported to be about 70 per cent."
Keep on saying occupied people. Pakistan never learns until it ceases to exist.
Ar 370 or not, Kashmir was assimilated in India in 1940's. How long you guys will remain disillusioned for Kashmir?
BJP has secured more electoral votes than PDP though PDP bagged more seats. With such a huge turnout and BJP securing more electoral votes than any other party, BJP ruling at the Center, and the fact that no other party can do better than BJP to improve the economic conditions of the population, BJP increasing its number of seats in the Assembly by 25 folds, the wave is clearly in favor of Kashmir joining India totally and finally. Article 370 will be repealed but it may take a bit longer than anticipated.