By Saneem Afshain

Voting is underway in Indian-administered Kashmir in the region's first elections since Delhi revoked its special status last year. But the polls are unusual even by Kashmir's stormy standards. Fear and mistrust prevails in the entire valley. There is heavy security around polling booths and voters are being frisked before casting their ballots. The polls are planned to be held in eight phases to December 19 amid tight security arrangements and COVID-19 protocols. "The election is just a distraction from the real issues that has caused a sense of betrayal and alienation amongst people here,.”

Narendra Modi-led fascist Indian government has put the peace of the entire world in perils by abrogating Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and annexing it with India on August 05, 2019 by dividing  IIOJK into two federally administered union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. After repealing the Article 370, New Delhi put the illegally occupied territory under strict military siege, confining millions of Kashmir’s to their homes and arresting thousands. Continued curfew, restrictions and communications blackout led to humanitarian crisis in IIOJK. At the same time, Indian troops intensified violent cordon and search operations across the territory. No free, air and transparent election is possible in the presence of more than one million troops in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmiri people are forced and obliged to vote in the ongoing elections another wise their lives would be at stake properties ransacked .

The main stream all parties Hurriyat conference has completely boycotted the ongoing fake elections in Kashmir. The Indian government   Syed Ali Shah Geelani an elderly besiged charismatic leader of Kashmir people called for a "complete boycott" of the District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir. He raised serious concerns over the "design of demographic changes", "land grabs", economy and livelihood.

However apparently the fight in J&K is among the BJP, Congress and the Gupkar Alliance — formed by all regional parties such as Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP and Farooq Abdulla’s National Conference (NC). The alliance was formed to jointly fight for the restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The NC and PDP had boycotted the previous local body polls held in 2018. But this time, both the parties entered the fray, saying they don’t want to give a free hand in J&K. The BJP has deployed a barrage of leaders including ministers for campaigning in Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress too is contesting the polls but main contest is expected to be the BJP and Abdulla-led Gupkar Alliance.

Before the elections the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (JKMC), Shabbir Ahmed Dar, has expressed serious concern over the Modi government’s move to set up a special colony for retired Indian soldiers. The occupation authorities have identified 200 kanals of land in Badgam district to set up the colony for the former Indian soldiers. While reacting to the move he said that this sinister plan was hatched in Delhi some years back and its implementation was stopped because of the forceful resistance by the people led by Joint Resistance Leadership. Now after abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, many Indian laws have been hastily extended in the occupied territory during the ongoing military siege.

Narendra Modi-led fascist Indian government had suspended the internet and mobile phone services in IIOJK on August 5,2019 last year after revoking the special status of the territory and placed it under military siege and the Indian authorities have extended the ban on high speed 4g internet connectivity which would remain in force till 25 December 2020, in the occupied territory in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to hide and conceal the facts and figures of the ongoing local elections   in occupied  Kashmir.

Recently, Indian government wants to settle non-state residents in Indian Illegally

Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) want to turn the Muslim majority status into a minority by changing the geographical and demographic position besides, giving  the facility of domicile certificates to non-state residents into IIOJK. The area near the military camps was being forcibly evicted from their lands and steps were being taken to build houses for Indian ex-servicemen.

Narendra  Modi-led fascist Indian government has put the peace of the entire world in perils by abrogating Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and annexing it with India on August 05, 2019. It also divided IIOJK into two federally administered union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. After repealing the Article 370, New Delhi put the illegally occupied territory under strict military siege, confining millions of Kashmir’s to their homes and arresting thousands. Continued curfew, restrictions and communications blackout led to humanitarian crisis in IIOJK. At the same time, Indian troops intensified violent cordon and search operations across the territory.
The Modi government imposed several federal laws and introduced new domicile rules in IIOJK which has been challenged in the court and is still sub judice besides it, which is gross violation of the UN resolutions and the international law; it has granted domicile status to thousands of non-Kashmiri Hindus including some IAS officers. The local people fear that more than 800,000 Indian soldiers and over 600,000 migrant laborers present in the territory might also be granted the domicile status in the coming days.

The BJP regime, as part of its anti-Muslim policies, is also replacing the Muslim names of important places and departments with Hindu names in IIOJK. The Prime Minister Modi government has initiated the process of delimitation of Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies in IIOJK with an aim to give more seats to Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu division to BJP led candidates.
The basic and main objective behind all these unilateral illegal measures is to convert IIOJK’s Muslim majority into a minority by settling Indian Hindus in large numbers. It is also aimed at damaging the essence of the UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute and affects the results in India’s favor. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, several members of UK parliament and US lawmakers as well as world bodies including the OIC, the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have expressed serious concern over the grim human rights situation in IIOJK along with International watchdog, the Genocide watch. Furthermore, by holding these forged elections the Indian government wants to show hood wink the world that all is well in the Kashmir.

The “concept of democracy” in India’ has turned out to be a cliché. Once a ‘bastion’ of secularism and democracy – flawed it may have been – India has been turned into fascism. The country of 1.3 billion is now a case study in how democracies can devolve into authoritarianism and tyranny. In this overzealous mission of transforming a secular democratic nation into a Hinduvata and Dharmacracy, the nation’s political elites enjoy the complete support of politicized media, army and judiciary.

India’s political collective conscience is dead. Gandhi philosophy and the largest democracy of the world have entirely changed in his land. Nehruvian secularism has been relegated to the pages of the Constitution only .The judicial injustice is creeping in at steady locomotion, and vigilante justice is taking over. Democracy is gasping for air; it is used as a ladder to political power through electoral deception.