A politician who advocates Kashmiris’ right to self-determination was the most popular candidate among security force personnel voting in the Baramulla parliamentary election through postal ballots, polling officials have claimed, marking a worrying piece of statistics for the government.
Sheikh Abdul Rasheed aka Engineer Rasheed, two-time MLA and Awami Itehaad Party leader, lost the election but led from 5 of the 15 Assembly segments, signalling he could emerge as a key player in the Valley.
Rasheed has persistently advocated Kashmiris’ right to decide the fate of their state and praised militants such as Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin. He moved an Assembly resolution a few years ago seeking clemency for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was eventually hanged.
Still, Rasheed not just bagged the highest number of service votes from Baramulla, he won more such votes than the BJP, National Conference and the Congress combined, a senior election official and high-ranking member of the district administration said.
He said 3,378 valid postal votes had been cast in the Baramulla election, of which Rasheed bagged 1,491, or 44 per cent. The BJP polled 581, the National Conference 457 and the Congress 292 for a combined tally of 1,330.
Officials said almost all the votes received through postal ballots had come from army and paramilitary personnel, along with some police personnel on outstation postings.
The senior official said civil government employees posted outside the constituency can cast postal ballots too, as can Kashmiri Pandits living elsewhere, but almost none of them did so in the Baramulla election.
“We received (postal ballots) only from service voters — the army and other security forces,” he said.
Statistics specifically on the postal ballots from army personnel wasn’t available.
Rasheed came third after the National Conference’s Mohammad Akbar Lone, whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi had targeted in rally after rally for his pro-Pakistan remarks, and Sajjad Lone’s People’s Conference. Unlike Rasheed’s party, the National Conference does not demand self-determination for Kashmiris --- a favourite slogan with the separatists.
“Army men have voted for me because they too want a resolution of the (Kashmir) issue…. They don’t want to live in fear round the clock,” Rasheed told this newspaper.
“My stand has always been that people on both sides of the LoC (Line of Control) should be asked what they want,” he added, conceding that this meant a referendum.
Buoyed by the voting pattern, Rasheed said, he had shot off a letter to Modi urging him to “initiate a dialogue process with all the stakeholders without wasting a day” for a resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
“It (why soldiers voted for him) is a million dollar question for those calling Er. Rasheed anti-national, Pakistani lover, communal, and what not,” his letter said.
“That why these local cops voted for me, as I have been often hitting streets against the human rights violations and atrocities, crying foji raaj naa manzoor (we don’t accept military rule) and similar slogans.
“Can army or Indian media call those 1,491 jawans anti-Indian or Pakistani agents who voted for Er. Rasheed. I humbly conclude by requesting your goodself to listen to the voices of the conscience of brave soldiers, who have rejected the false propaganda that whosoever calls a spade a spade is India’s enemy.”
Rasheed has written that victims of violence on the other side of the divide too voted for him, mentioning by name people like Sanaullah Wani, father of slain militant commander Parvaiz Wani.
BJP spokesperson Anil Gupta, a former army brigadier, said he was “not inclined to believe” that soldiers had voted for Rasheed. “Many of them (soldiers) would not be knowing who Engineer Rasheed is,” he said.
Gupta said Rasheed “doesn’t do politics but exploits the sentiments of the people”.
“As far as the BJP is concerned, Kashmir is not a political problem. This is our firm stand. There are problems in Kashmir that need to be resolved, but Kashmir per se is not a problem,” he said.
