Unnerved by the response of the people to the public meetings being organized by political parties, ultras have resorted to using threats to create a fear psychosis among the people.
SRINAGAR: Unnerved by the response of the people to the public meetings being organized by political parties in the nook and corner of Jammu and Kashmir, ultras have resorted to old methods to use threats to create a fear psychosis among the people.
Though elections in the state are scheduled next year, militants see holding of large number of public meetings by PDP, Congress and National Conference as preperation for polls, observers say.
The PDP which has organised maximum number of public meetings in the valley during the past one month as part of its 'meet the people' programme to explain party's demand for reduction of troops and revocation of their special powers in the state, a demand which has majority support in the valley, unnerved the militants threatened to attack the rally at Wachi in Pulwama district forcing the party to cancel the rally at the eleventh hour on May 9.
Militants circulated pamphlets asking the people to remain away from the meeting. As part of its mass contact exercise which many people believe was a run up to the campaign for assembly elections, the PDP had planned a rally in this remote township of shopian district in south Kashmir.
The rally was being seen as politically significant, since the venue was one of the most militancy-infected areas and PDP chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was to address it.
Preparations for the rally was made days in advance. However, the PDP was forced to cancel the meeting at the last moment when only a few people turned up.
Confirming the threat of militants, PDP sources said the militants had threatened attack if 'we went ahead with the rally.'
They had also issued threats to the people and the local organisers, they said, adding security of the people is supreme so we cancelled the rally.
Analysts said the militants, keeping in mind their failure to enforce boycott in the 2002 assembly elections or 2004 parliamentary elections in the state, were not in mood to relent and allow people to exercise the right of franchise in the coming elections.
The turnout of about 70 per cent voters in the civic polls in 2004 even surprised the contestants not to speak of ultras.
It is in this background that militants have started threatening political parties as well as people to keep them away from the democratic rights and show their presence, they said.
PDP leadership is surprised over the development as militants had been soft on them as against other political groups.
The opposition National Conference has been accusing PDP of having won the last assembly elections getting open support from militant groups.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has never utter a word against militants and often advised them to shelve the gun as Kashmir issue could only be resolved through dialogue. His demand for rehabilitation of kins of slain militants is seen here to win over the militants and their sympathiers.
Though officials claim an appreciable decrease in violence, bringing down militancy by over 60 per cent and the killings by 50 per cent, observers believed that it was a deliberate as militants have been directed to maintain a low key profile in view of ongoing talks between India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir issue.
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