SRINAGAR, Feb 3 (1998): A Kashmiri Moslem separatist forum Tuesday issued a strong warning to officials taking part in India’s February-March national elections, saying the move could cost them “very dearly.”
The Shoura-e-Jehad, an amalgam of pro-Pakistani rebel groups, said: “The election is being watched very closely and even the minutest mistakes can cost officials very dearly.”
The council urged officials to boycott poll duties.
“The wounds inflicted by the government are too deep to be forgotten,” it said. “The militants are not weak. We will strike at the proper time.”
More than 20,000 people have died in Kashmir since 1989 in violence related to a Moslem separatist drive. India accuses neighboring Pakistan, which administers part of the divided territory, of backing the insurgency. Islamabad denies the charge.
Kashmir was under direct federal rule for nine years until 1996 when state elections were held to create a government. Moslem militants had issued a similar warning and election officials were brought in from other Indian states.
This time, however, the polling booths will be manned by local officials.
“No contingency plans have been drawn,” Kashmir’s top bureaucrat Ashok Jaitley said recently. “We are sure the employees will take part in poll duties despite militants’ threats.”
The Freedom Conference, an umbrella grouping of some 30 Moslem separatist organisations, Tuesday reiterated their boycott of the polls.
“Elections are no substitute to the right to self-determination promised by India and guaranteed by the world community,” Umer Farooq, Conference president and Kashmir’s chief Moslem cleric, said.
Thousands of paramilitary troops will be deployed across the troubled state of Kashmir during the elections on February 16 and 28 and March 7.
A police source said 400 additional companies of paramilitary troops — or roughly 40,000 men — would be deployed across the state for the elections.
Some 50 million voters in Kashmir will pick six members in the 545-seat lower house of the federal parliament.
