Mountainous Neelum valley in Kashmir. PHOTO: AFP
SRINAGAR, INDIA: Indian Kashmir was brought under New Delhi's direct rule Friday after political rivals failed to agree on a power-sharing coalition, more than two weeks after elections in the country's only Muslim-majority state.
A federal government spokesperson confirmed that President Pranab Mukherjee had placed Governor NN Vohra in charge of the state, a day after the acting chief minister stepped down.
"The president has approved the governor's rule for the state," home ministry spokesperson M A Ganapathy told AFP after Vohra had made an official recommendation to Mukherjee.
The move comes more than two weeks after the December 23 announcement of results of the state elections which saw all parties fall way short of the 44 seats needed for an absolute majority.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, whose National Conference Party won only 15 seats after suffering an electoral meltdown, had stayed on as caretaker but he submitted his resignation to Vohra on Thursday.
The imposition of direct rule means local representatives will have no say in the running of Kashmir for the timebeing, a particular sensitive issue in a region where rebels have been fighting to secede from India since 1989.
It comes after the two parties which won the most seats -- the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- failed to work out a power sharing arrangement or cut a deal with other smaller parties.
The PDP won 28 seats while the BJP won 25, mainly mopping up in the mainly Hindu Jammu region in the south of the state.
Abdullah, who suffered a backlash over his government's handling of devastating floods in September, said it was vital the state not be left in "limbo".
"I am sorry after an election with such a good turnout we have a situation of Governor's rule but as I've maintained the onus lies with PDP," he said on Twitter.
PDP spokesperson Nayeem Akhtar said that the party was still in discussions with a range of parties.
"It might lead to a brief spell of governor's rule but ultimately a popular government has to come and serve the state because the people have voted for the government," Akhtar told NDTV.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan since the two countries won independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full.
The rivals have exchanged heavy fire along their border in Kashmir in recent months, leading to scores of deaths on both sides while thousands of people have been displaced.
COMMENTS (22)
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@Khawaja Farhan Butt: Whoa ! Dude you don't even understand what democracy is. Governor's rule cannot be in place for more than 6 months. It's a temporary arrangement, wherein this kind of situation where no party can form government. You need to grow up
@A.Shah:
What do you think Elections are, genius?
Elections are a way for people to speak their mind. That is why Elections happen in Pakistan. If you disagree, stop voting the next time elections come around.
If people want to separate, they will elect a Separatist.
In J&K 2 out of 3 districts are non-Muslim majority. Its not going anywhere, my friend.
We will repatriate all the Kashmiri Pandits who were driven out of their own homes. Kashmir is theirs too.
You claim to fight Islamists in Pakistan, but support them in Kashmir. Double standards!
The ignorance shown by Pakistanis is so amusing., they don't even know what Governors rule is. They think it is like army rule under Musharraf. Lol!
India has always manipulated elections in the occupied J&K to keep her control over the state; militarily at one hand, and through controlling legislature at the other hand by employing various measures like scrutinizing out the unwanted candidates, rigging ballot, and controlling elected members by blackmail, threats, money, and incentives, and always installed a puppet government there so that they do not pass any legislation declaring occupied J&K part of Pakistan or declare independence. The details of Election maneuvering, rigging, and fraud by the Indian government were dug out by an independent political science researcher Michael Colodner for his study titled "The Indian Occupation of Kashmir"-- the details are rather more thrilling than 'One Thousand Nights'. A brief of his findings is available online and can be read "here". In the past it was a puppet government all India wants to control the state, but this time fascist Modi wants direct Hindu rule over the state so that he could permanently occupy Kashmir's lands. For this purpose, he made all out efforts to win the state elections using all means. However, the people of Kashmir have defeated his party by more than 2/3rd majority in the recent elections (all his candidates in Muslim majority areas lost even their deposits despite the full support of New Delhi). I am sure, the recent impasse between the parties is created by Modi's government through manipulations as usual so that they could impose Governor (who is a Hindu) rule, who in turn would straighten the candidates/parties by using all means necessary to bow out to the wishes of New Delhi and handover the state government to BJP/Hindus.
Indian forces entered Kashmir in 1947, due to M.Hari Singh invited them, who was an authoritarian brutal ruler, against the will of the people who wanted to accede to Pakistan, as was with the provision of the partition(all the princely states can decide to accede to India or Pakistan). Here Indian hypocrisy was at its best, Indian forces Invaded princely state of Hyderabad Deccan in 1948 against the wishes of the ruler Asif jah, who want to keep it independent, citing the Hindu majority as an excuse.
The picture is from the Pakistani side of Neelum Valley, Kashmir.
@BruteForce: About 95,000 innocent Kashmiris were killed by the Indian forces since the start of uprising by the people. This will not go in vain and the people of Kashmir will get their right of self determination.
Kashmiris just hate the occupied Indian army and want them to go back. There are 7 hundred thousand India troops in Indian occupied Kashmir, the largest concentration of troops anywhere in the world per Sq.Km.
@raider: You should know better for that's what is happening 24/7/365 in your country.
@Gp65:
You can excuse Pakistanis of not knowing terms like "hung assembly" and "Governor's Rule". The number of instances of free and fair elections have been few. The saddest thing is they think its against Democracy!
Most senior Pakistanis have not voted more than a couple of times, since every decade there is a military takeover. And, young Pakistan has till date not seen Free and Fair elections.
Its like a person who hasn't driven cannot be taught what the function of the clutch is.
@Khawaja Farhan Butt:
Do you know what a hung assembly is? India and Pakistan both practice Westminster style Democracy.
Pray, tell us what happens in Pakistan when there is a hung assembly?
The average Pakistani knowledge on Democracy seems to be pathetic!
@raider:
J&K is more peaceful than any city or province in Pakistan. In fact, more Tourists visited Kashmir last year than entire coutry of Pakistan!
In 2013, so many Tourists visited that there was room shortage!
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2013/Jun/7/as-tourist-arrivals-swell-kashmir-grapples-with-room-shortage-37.asp
Tourists are not suicidal, Tourism thrives where there is security and rule of law.
After decades of non-Democracy and military takeovers, the comments here seem Pakistanis have forgotten what a hung assembly is, why does it happen and what will happen if this occurs.
They seem to think Governor's rule is against Democracy. Just goes to show how ill informed an ordinary Pakistani is about Democracy.
The funny thing is this is what happens when there are hung verdicts in Pakistan. Considering the history of Elections and number of Military takeovers, I guess this lack understanding of Democratic procedures is undertandable.
Sad..
What exactly is everybody getting excited about? Imposition of Governor's rule by the President of India is in the constitution. In fact, the President of India has imposed Governor's rule in many states of India when the ruling party loses the support in the state assembly before the scheduled election. Under such cases, the Governor's rule is imposed as an interim measure to manage the affairs of the state. This is nothing new and is not Kashmir specific.
where there is no rule, governer rule would make no difference
@PK Tribune:
On one had ou say it is internationally disputed. On other side you say it is rightful part of Pakistan. Confused much? @Khawaja Farhan Butt: Comment makes little sense. No party has been able to prove majority support due to fractured mandate. In such situation what has happened is in line with the constitution. If tomorrow PDP can show majority support no one will stop Mufti Mohamed Sayeed from becoming the CM.
It is shame that PDP cannot form a government in coalition. Even If a reelection is scheduled PDP will not gain required majority. It is an excellent opportunity wasted by PDP.
It is Indian occupied Kashmir, not Indian Kashmir!!!!
Goes to show that India can't even uphold the writ of the state in ilegally occupied Kashmir, let alone maintain the norms of democracy. If India had any self-respect, it should allow Kashmiri's the right to self-determination as agreed upon by UN.
So what? It's internationally recognized as a disputed territory and a right full part of Pakistan.So India can do what ever it want's nothing will change that.
RIP democracy, RIP sovereignty.