Youth in Kashmir wants to vote for provision of basic amenities in Elections 2019

Hurriyat don’t have roadmap for Kashmir problem: youth of Kashmir

Kashmiri youth, generally, abhor talking about voting and their participation in elections. They are perceived mostly in protests against New Delhi and voicing their anger. Talking with this correspondent Kashmiri youth opened up about the coming up parliamentary election in Kashmir.

Student and JKPM support Daniyal Bashir (21) said "Either we vote or we do not. Someone has to be elected, so it is better to vote and elect a leader of our choice". Muskaan Sahaf, 20, another first-time voter, sees unemployment as the foremost challenge for Kashmiri youth. "I am a graduate and I am still unemployed, so I cast my vote for the candidate who promised us greater employment opportunities".

She added, "We have seen what is happening in Kashmir Valley and nobody care but we will cast our vote and choose our own leader who can understand and listen to our problems".

Nazir Ahmad (51) Businessman, accuses the PDP BJP government of failing in every front. "Both the PDP and BJP promised much during the time of election but did nothing on the ground, so we are voting for a new government that will hopefully rehabilitate us," he says.

Significantly, many youth Kashmiris said that they are participating in polls to keep out BJP and its promise of ending the state's special autonomous status under Article 370.

Murseelan Mushtaq 27 said "They try to take our land from us without solving the Kashmir issue. We won't let it happen. So I will vote to keep the BJP out of the state".

He added BJP thinks that Removal of Article 370 and bringing Jammu and Kashmir on par with other states is the only viable solution to the issue is easy but now the only option is to keep BJP out of state by vote's regional party.

What youth think about the Hurriyat Conference?

The Hurriyat Conference during the time of election always call for a boycott of the polls, but the people challenges Hurriyat this time and said they will vote in large numbers.

Aabir Nabi Bhat said "What has Hurriyat given us from 1990? We supported them every time and everywhere during 2010 or 2017. They don't have a roadmap for Kashmir".

He said "these Hurriyat people fight for their own power and claim to be fighting for us. They just offer us Hartals, shutdowns, and protests."

He added, "they can only kill people in the name of freedom but they don't know anything about Kashmir problem".

Many Kashmiris girls and boys speaking to our correspondent said Delhi might see their participation in the polls as a willingness to be a part of India but the trust is people are voting for " bijli, Sadak, and paani" (basic needs).

Sajjad Rasool 27 Ph.D. political student said, "Delhi is using our vote to show UN and other world bodies that Kashmiris are living happily with India and have full faith in the Indian Constitution, but the whole world knows that we vote only for basic amenities".

The regional parties in the fray, such as the National Conference and People's Democratic Party, have been quick to delink the election process from the greater Kashmir issue.

"Kashmir elections are independent of the greater aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. We have promised in our manifesto that PDP will use democratic ways to solve the Kashmir issue," senior PDP leader and Former Minister Naeem Akhtar.

Naeem Akhtar said "BJP is trying very hard to convert legal and constitutional relationship between Jammu and Kashmir and the Union into an occupation through subterfuge and systemic subversion. It is unfortunate that Sangh Parivar has fielded one of the better-known lawyers of the country to oppose the Supreme Court orders which have upheld Article-35-A not once but twice in the past,"

"We will solve Kashmir issue and protect 370 of people of Jammu and Kashmir", said Peoples Conference Chairman Sajad Gani Lone

Sajad said that "I am amazed how Omar Abdullah lies through his teeth. The NIA as an institution was created by the Congress when the NC & Congress was in an alliance and Dr. Farooq Abdullah was the member of the Cabinet. I don't remember even a single statement issued by Dr. Farooq Abdullah or Omar Abdullah, who was at that time the Chief Minister, voicing concern about the sweeping powers given to NIA."