On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah wound up his two-day Kashmir visit.
According to reports, the Indian Home Secretary talked about the recent significant voter turnout in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency and wanted feedback from his party members on the upcoming elections in Baramulla, Anantnag constituencies, as well as the assembly elections that are scheduled to be held later this year in J&K.
The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti claimed that local Pahari officials were being “coerced by Mr. Shah to support BJP’s proxy parties in Kashmir.” The Bharatiya Janata Party has not fielded any candidate from three parliamentary seats of Kashmir Valley.
Mr. Shah arrived here on Thursday evening and left for New Delhi on Friday morning. “It was an apolitical visit by the Home Minister. However, it was discussed [during his meetings] that the voting witnessed on May 13 in Srinagar was heartening. It showed that the people of Kashmir have reposed faith in Parliament.” The Opposition parties described the abrogation of Article 370 as a wrong move and even rejected the Supreme Court judgment in this regard. But there is a high voter turnout; it means that people accepted it and now through their votes show faith in Parliament which abrogated it,” said BJP general secretary Sunil Sharma.
He added that during his visit to Baramulla and Anantnag Lok Sabha seats, there were several measures reviewed by him for further scaling up election turnouts.“He (Mr.Shah) put thrust on encouraging people to come out and vote in upcoming phases,” Mr.Sharma said.
It is understood from sources that Mr.Shah has given direction to his party leadership regarding winning over those candidates who have potentiality to defeat nominees of National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Mr.Shah addressed the upset party workers who were in favor of fielding candidates in the Lok Sabha election in Kashmir. He asked them “to start preparations for the Assembly election”, which is due before September this year as per the Supreme Court order.
Various delegations meet Shah
“A Pahari delegation met the Home Minister. The community, which fought against the Congress and the NC for their demands, expressed gratitude for granting it the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. The community will come out and cast their vote and take a decision on their own wisdom. Will they vote for those who opposed their ST status?” said Mr.Sharma.
The Home Minister also met with a delegation of local Sikhs, sources said. According to sources, Sikhs have demanded “a special employment package.” In addition, this group has called for granting ST status to Sikhs living in Kashmir.
In addition to BJP national general secretary Tarun Chug present too were senior BJP leaders such as Darakshan Andrabi, Hina Bhat, Sofi Yousuf, Altaf Thakur, Dr.G.M Mir, Ali Muhammad and Bilal Parray among others while meeting with him at his residence here.
Sources confirm that Local officials are required by the Indian Home Secretary to provide him with a report concerning upcoming Amarnath Yatra.
Don’t interfere in poll process: Mehbooba
Meanwhile, former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti urged HM “to refrain from interfering in the ongoing electoral process”.
“The elections should be conducted in J&K fairly like other regions of India.They should not be rigged prior to elections and there should not be any threat or intimidation towards voters or officials participating in this exercise” Ms.Mufti added.
According to Ms. Mufti, she had been informed that the Home Minister, called a meeting of Pahari officers and told them, “if you fail to support People’s Conference in Baramulla and Apni Party in Anantnag-Rajouri seat there will be trouble.”
“I would like to appeal to the officials from Pahari belt because you people are brave enough; please don’t add up the sufferings of already oppressed people of J&K. I beg you, stand firm,” appealed Ms. Mufti.
She said something about “pre-poll rigging”. “The 1987 elections were rigged and it eroded public faith in democratic processes; any repeat manipulation could have catastrophic consequences similar to those after the 1987 polls,” cautioned Ms. Mufti.
She accused BJP’s surrogate parties of using physical coercion or threats as well as financial rewards for influencing election outcomes”.
