The Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir have been a big puzzle for Akhtar Hussain Malla and several other men appointed as numberdars, traditional village heads, in south Kashmir last year.

The government has disallowed them from helming the grassroots village-level institutions for being relatives, in some cases distant kin, of separatists. On the other hand, separatists, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, are being allowed to contest for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, the Union Territory’s highest law-making body.

It is even more intriguing for the families of panches or sarpanches, elected representatives in village-level bodies, who were killed by militants for having participated in “small-time” elections like panchayats.

“My husband (Abdul Majeed Dar) was killed in 2019 because he was a panch. Those who are contesting elections today were calling for boycotts. If my husband deserved death, what about them?” asked Hajira Bano from Shalipora.

“We are a poor family but my sons laboured hard to run the family and continue their education. One of them is a postgraduate, the other a BTech. The only thing I got from the government was Rs 1 lakh (as ex gratia). Under government rules, my sons were entitled to government jobs but we got nothing.”

Kulgam resident Malla said his family faced accusations of being “Hindustanis” all their life as his father was a CPM activist, but they are now "Pakistanis and militants" for the State. “We faced harassment (at the hands of militants). Last year, I passed a written test but am not being confirmed as a numberdar because I am told I had an adverse report from (intelligence) agencies,” Malla told this newspaper.

“The irony is that I am told I am a cousin of someone linked to the Jamaat. I am not part of his family and his own family faces no such issues. Jamaat men themselves have been allowed to contest the Assembly elections and if they win, they will be in the Assembly tomorrow. Here I am struggling to prove my character.”

The government has toughened rules for all recruitments in Jammu and Kashmir and clearance from the government agencies is a must.

Malla said he was among hundreds selected across Kashmir for the posts of numberdars in 2023. Before that, numberdars used to be elected informally by the villagers but the 2019 scrapping of Article 370 and other changes necessitated, among other things, their appointment by the government through a written test. They are entitled to an honorarium of a measly Rs 1,501 per month.

During British rule, numberdars were responsible for tax collection but the election of the panchayat bodies dwarfed their powers.

“In Kulgam tehsil alone, there are 16 such cases (where numberdars have not been given appointment following background check). Our families have no direct link (to militancy or separatists) but nobody is listening,” Malla said.

Bogam resident Jahangir Ahmad Wani’s case is even more surprising. He was a special police officer who was shot in the leg by militants several years ago and remained hospitalised for months. Now, he has not been appointed as a numberdar even after qualifying the exam.

“I was forced to quit the police after militants threatened to kill me. I have got an adverse report because my brother Mohammad Ashraf was previously a militant who later surrendered and joined the Ikhwan (counter-insurgency force). He was later absorbed by the army in its Territorial Army battalion,” he said.

An officer in Kulgam said the administration had to rely on reports submitted by the police. “I can’t comment on individual cases. But we have a limited role in this,” he said.