Even the hardy souls who joined the civic polls in Kashmir to foster their political ambitions are now seriously thinking whether or not they took the right decision as death threats have thrown their routine haywire. The threats are not what the elected councilors conjure up, they are for real. The broad daylight murder of Mohammad Ramzan Mian the municipal chairman of north Kashmir Pattan town which also left his three body guards dead has jolted all the elected civic representatives who are now unable to attend to their new responsibility with the focus shifting from politics to survival.The immediate fallout of Mian's killing had been the en bloc resignation of five councilors from the Pattan municipal committee. So far, more than half a dozen councillors have been killed and reprisal attacks against many continue to take place with impunity. The government here provided one personal security guard each for every elected municipal councilor, but such security arrangements are being described as "highly inadequate" by the elected representatives. "We cannot stick our necks out. Threats are aplenty, but security is scarce. What am I supposed to do when my family continues to live under the lurking danger from the militants," said a woman councilor here who requested not to be named.
The official decision to hold the panchayat elections in the state during the next two months has added to the problems of the elected councilors as the official security focus is now shifting from the municipal councilors to the prospective panchayat representatives. "It is not possible to provide foolproof security to each and every elected municipal councilor keeping in view their large numbers. It was for this reason that we had mooted the idea of providing pooled accommodation to the elected councilors," said a senior police official here. The experience of pooled accommodation for the councilors was that those who had opted for it had not been able to return to their homes for the past 18 years. Some councilors argue that once they moved into pooled accommodation they would not be able to attend to the civic problems of their respective areas in Srinagar and other towns.