Previously arrested several times for “anti-India” activities, twenty-three-year-old Ikhlas Amin Bhat, a resident of Anantnag, campaigned for an independent candidate in Kashmir’s first legislative assembly election in ten years. “My family has always boycotted polls, but this time, we showed up, driven by the hope for real change in the region. We have pinned our faith on Indian democracy,” he said, sharing photos from the campaign trail.
He was among the many voters and campaigns that dealt a blow to Delhi through the election of a national assembly with a near majority for the center-left and regionalist Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC).
Ikhlas’s participation in these elections is symbolic of a broader shift in Kashmiri political engagement. The late 1980s witnessed the rise of an armed insurgency in Kashmir, with thousands of young Kashmiris taking up arms against Indian rule. This insurgency sparked decades of repression, during which human rights violations became the norm.
Things only got worse after the election of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 2019, the Indian government unilaterally abrogated constitutional safeguards for Jammu and Kashmir, revoking the region’s limited autonomy (Article 370 of India’s Constitution), provoking widespread outrage. This drastic action was followed by a severe crackdown: thousands of additional troops were deployed; hundreds of local politicians, lawyers, traders, and journalists were imprisoned; and the region was subjected to the longest internet blackout ever recorded, lasting over eighteen months.
Human Rights Watch, in reference to the post-abrogation situation in Jammu and Kashmir, stated that Indian authorities have been…
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Auteur: Sajad Hameed
