{"id":15165,"date":"2024-09-17T12:43:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/elections-2024\/15165\/"},"modified":"2024-09-17T12:43:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:43:47","slug":"engineer-rashid-and-jamaat-e-islami-change-electoral-landscape-in-kashmir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/?p=15165","title":{"rendered":"Engineer Rashid and Jamaat-e-Islami change electoral landscape In Kashmir"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After a decade, Assembly elections are happening in Jammu and Kashmir\u00a0with fundamentally altered positions of all the stakeholders in the Kashmir Valley. The first of the three phase elections for the 90-member Assembly will take place on Wednesday in 24 seats spread across seven districts in the border State.<\/p>\n

The BJP at the centre is single-mindedly working towards undercutting the strong regional parties in Kashmir\u00a0\u2013 Farooq and Omar Abdullah-led National Conference, which has aligned with the Congress and Mehbooba Mufti-led People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP). Coinciding with the BJP\u2019s stated intent is, ironically, the moves made by forces aligned with fundamentalist and separatist elements.<\/p>\n

These elements include the independents backed by the banned Jamaat-e-Islami and Sheikh Abdul Rashid aka Engineer Rashid Awami Ittehad Party (AIP). Engineer Rashid, who has been in jail in Delhi on terror-funding charges and managed to win the Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla, has been granted bail for the duration of the elections. His party has announced an alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami.<\/p>\n

\nFirst phase
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This alliance damages the PDP and the NC equally. In the first phase, eight of the 24 seats are located in Jammu\u00a0and 16 are in Kashmir. All the 16 seats in Kashmir are distributed across four south Kashmir districts \u2013 Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam. Before August 5, 2019, the area was nucleus of militant activities, witnessing intense fighting on a daily basis. The top and deeply radicalised militant commanders like Burhan Wani, Zakir Musa and Riyaz Naikoo belonged to south Kashmir.<\/p>\n

\"Security<\/p>\n

\nSecurity personnel keep vigil as Polling officers carrying Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines walk to a bus to be transported to polling stations, ahead of the first phase of assembly elections in J&K September 18 in Pulwama district south Kashmir on Tuesday
\n| Photo Credit: IMRAN NISSAR
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Kulgam has traditionally been a bastion for Jamaat-e-Islami, which won elections in the area from 1971 to 1987, the year it chose to withdraw from the electoral process. While Jamaat-e-Islami also has a notable presence in some pockets of Shopian and Pulwama districts, it did not secure any seats in these areas in previous elections. But this time, the Jamaat\u2019s alliance with Engineer\u2019s AIP is disturbing equations in almost all seats.<\/p>\n

In Pulwama, for instance, Engineer\u2019s announcement threw the local AIP candidate Mohammad Iqbal Sofi completely off balance. He had already been declared candidate by AIP but the Jamaat too is backing an independent, Dr Talat Majeed, in this constituency. Not knowing where he stood, Sofi decided to throw his lot with the National Conference and is now campaigning for Omar Abdullah. The seat was held earlier by the PDP which is going to be damaged by the Jamaat and AIP alliance because it used to earlier get some support from the Jamaat cadre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a founder member of Engineer Rashid\u2019s party. Now I have been thrown out in the cold and suddenly, the party is backing the Jamaat. Obviously, this weakens the PDP. I have decided to support NC,\u201d Sofi told\u00a0businessline<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\n\u2018BJP proxy\u2019
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Veteran CPM leader and former MLA from Kulgam Yusuf Tarigami described the AIM and Jamaat alliance as a \u201cproxy for the BJP\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTill yesterday, these people (the Jamaat) were denouncing elections and boycotting them. Now suddenly they want to contest and their candidates are being given police protection even though they are a banned organisation. How is all this possible without any support from the Centre and the BJP?\u201d Tarigami said.<\/p>\n

Dr Talat Majeed, Jamaat-backed candidate from Pulwama counters assertions of them being \u201cBJP proxies\u201d not just by Tarigami but also the PDP and the NC. \u201cThey say the same thing about everyone. I wouldn\u2019t pay any heed to them. It\u2019s absolutely baseless,\u201d Majeed said.<\/p>\n

The fact is, as the State heads for elections for the first time in ten years, the entry of elements hitherto opposed to any democratic engagement especially elections, into the fray has changed the political landscape. Whether the BJP will be able to form a government in the State on the basis of its support in Jammu\u00a0will depend on the extent of damage inflicted by the fundamentalist elements on the legacy parties \u2013 the NC and PDP \u2013 in Kashmir.<\/p>\n

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    Published on September 17, 2024 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n