| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Kashmir separatist to contest Indian polls |
| 2009-04-12 |
| SRINAGAR, INDIA - An outspoken Kashmiri separatist said Saturday he would run in India’s elections starting next week, marking a radical departure for the movement which has until now boycotted polls. Sajad Lone, 41, heads the People’s Conference, a separatist group in Muslim-majority Indian Kashmir. “I have decided to contest the upcoming parliamentary polls with a commitment to use this mechanism as a method to represent the voice of the Kashmiri people,” Lone said. “This is to take the strength and merits of our cherished (independence) aspirations to the central stage of India, where it cannot be ignored or censored.” The announcement came a day after the hardline wing of the region’s main separatist alliance, the Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, announced a campaign against participation in the general elections that kick off on Thursday. Separatist groups have long argued that taking part in elections in Kashmir was tantamount to accepting Indian sovereignty over the scenic Himalayan region. But elections in Kashmir last year witnessed an unprecedented 60 percent voter turnout -- a figure the government in New Delhi was swift to hail as a “victory for democracy” and a vote for national integration. “It’s a setback to the separatists as boycott is their accepted strategy,” said Tahir Mohiudin, editor of the widely read Urdu weekly Chattan, or Rock. Lone is one of Kashmir’s most vocal separatists, defending the cause in television debates, newspaper interviews and seminars. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 If he wins, he gets to swear allegiance to the Indian Union. |
| Posted by: john frum 2009-04-12 12:33 |