Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE= 08/28/02

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE= KASHMIR ELECTIONS

NUMBER=5-52155

BYLINE= JIM TEEPLE

DATELINE= SRINAGAR

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Beginning next month, voters in Indias Jammu and Kashmir State are scheduled to go to the polls in elections to choose a new state assembly. Because of Kashmirs position as a flashpoint in the tense relations between India and Pakistan, the elections will be closely watched, around the world. As V-O-As Jim Teeple discovered on a

visit to Kashmir, few voters in the state expect the elections to break new

ground or offer any hope for easing the Kashmir crisis.

TEXT:

/// ACT OF CROWD CHANTING, UP AND UNDER ///

Those supporters of Kashmirs opposition Congress Party are calling

for governors rule in Jammu and Kashmir.

Wary of the fraud that has characterized past state elections in

Kashmir, they want New Delhi to impose federal control over the state

-- to ensure the elections will be free and fair.

Officials in New Delhi say they are committed to free-and-fair elections

and that there is no need at this point to impose federal authority over

the state government. Jammu and Kashmirs government is run by the ruling

National Conference a partner in the B-J-P / dominated coalition government that rules India.

Khem Lata Wakhlu is a Congress Party leader in the state and a

candidate for a seat in the state assembly. She says people are

desperate for the elections to succeed.

/// WAKHLU ACTUALITY ///

They (Kashmiris) would rather like to have proper government.

Everybody wants a government that works which is going to deliver

goods for the people of J&K State. So, this time everybody feels

not only myself; but the common man as well we feel that things are

not working they way they should.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Although she says she is apprehensive about the possibility of voter

fraud in the elections, Mrs. Wakhlu says there is no question about not

voting. She says elections are the only way Kashmiris can decide

their own future.

/// OPTIONAL WAKHLU ACTUALITY ///

Ultimately, that is how I feel that the people of J&K state have to

solve their own problems no one else is going to come and do

something for us we have to solve our own problems according to our own

peoples wishes. We have to solve our own problems. No one else can

do that.

/// END OPTIONAL ACTUALITY ///

Many others in Indian-administered Kashmir say the elections will do nothing. Abdul Ghani Bhat heads the All Parties Huriyat Conference -- a grouping of more than 20

separatist political parties. Mr. Bhat says the elections are a

sideshow that will not address the real issue behind the Kashmir

dispute, which he says is self-determination for the people of

Indian-administered Kashmir.

/// BHAT ACTUALITY ///

Elections have no relevance to the future dispensation of Jammu and

Kashmir. Elections have no relevance to the situation in the entire

South Asian region. What we need to do is address the root cause and

forget about the side effects or the offshoot effects. Forget about

the offshoot effects and address the root cause and address the

undercurrent of tension between India and Pakistan.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Abdul Ghani Bhat says he expects the elections to be marked by

violence and fraud and that he and his colleagues in the Huriyat Conference

will not participate. Separatist militants have pledged to kill candidates

and voters.

Independent observers in Kashmir say -- because the separatists will not

be participating -- it is difficult to gauge the strength they might have if they did take part in the polling.

Sajjad Haider is the editor of the "Kashmir Observer." He says many

Kashmiris have grown cynical about elections in their state.

/// HAIDER ACTUALITY ///

Elections have been taking place here for the last 50 years now.

They have not brought any substantial change in the life of the people.

The Kashmir issue, as such, remains as it was, 50 years back. So the

uncertainty here looms large. The priority of the people here who

have suffered a lot for the last 13 or 14 years is to end this

uncertainty, to change their livelihood and to get rid of this violence. So, they

just want the government of India or the powers that matter to take

bold initiatives so there is a change on the ground, so the uncertainty

ends and things improve for the better.

// END ACTUALITY ///

Sajjad Haider says the last time elections were held in 1996, the few

people who voted did so out of a belief that a proposal for more

autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir proposed by the ruling National

Conference would be adopted by the central government in New Delhi.

However, he notes that proposal failed leaving many Kashmiris

bitter and making them less likely to vote, this year, than ever before.

(Signed)

neb/jlt/wd