Lok Sabha Election 2019: In corridor of terror, voters ignore polls

On the edge of a dirt road in the Shakurdin Mohalla, Manzoor Ahmad is busy in friendly discussions with a group of people.

Just 100 meters away, three polling booths in the Government Middle School Hajin wear a deserted look. Till 4 pm, only 10 out of the 1,898 votes were polled in the three booths.

In the terror heartland of North Kashmir, the election boycott is visible in the three Mohollas — Shakurdin Mohalla, Parray Moholla and Mir Moholla — which saw major encounters and ISIS-style beheadings by the terrorists in the last few years.

"Just five months ago, a Pakistani terrorist was killed here," said Manzoor, pointing towards a culvert where the encounter took place

Once the bastion of Kuka Parray-led Ikhwan, the major counter insurgent militia, these pockets of Hajin are now trying to shed their baggage of the past.

The area, which saw the rise of the pro-government militia in early nineties that was instrumental in breaking the back of the militancy and setting the stage for the 1996 polls, has now become the nucleus of terror in North Kashmir.

On March 22, a 12-year-old boy held hostage by two Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists was killed at Mir Mohollah in Hajin. Later, both the Pakistani terrorists were gunned down by security forces. One of the slain Pakistani terrorists, Ali, wanted to marry the sister of the boy. And when the family refused, they took him hostage and killed him.

Ikhwan had become synonymous to human rights violations, which brought them in the cross-hairs of all major mainstream parties, including PDP. Kuka Parray, who had become an MLA in 1996, was assassinated and the authorities later disbanded Ikhwan.

"We have seen a lot of oppression since the Ikhwan era. There is a complete turnaround. We did not even vote in the municipal polls. This is partly because we want to shed the image given to us by Ikhwan. Not all people were with Ikhwan, but the area was tagged for counter insurgency," said another resident.

In Naidkhai, two kilometres from Hajin, there was a total paradox with voter enthusiasm at its zenith. A middle-aged man became the face of the voters' enthusiasm when he burst into a dance sequence at the polling booth before casting his ballot.

"Look at the enthusiasm of voters in Bandipora of North Kashmir," tweeted Ram Madhav, National General Secretary of BJP, tagging the video of the man dancing outside the polling booth.

Such was the enthusiasm that 50 per cent turnout was recorded in some polling booths of Naidhkhai before 3 pm. Out of the 893 votes, around 497 were polled in Poshwari polling booth in Niadkhai till 2:45 pm. In Poshwari (A) polling booth, 362 out of the 571 votes were polled till 2:45 pm.

Large queues of voters were seen in different polling booths with people lining up to cast their ballots. 

"Democracy, as they say, is a government by debate and discussion and today's enthusiasm amply reflected that," said an official spokesman.