95% people rejected elections: JRL
Scores of secret candidates were chosen unopposed
Srinagar: Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) on the culmination of last phase of Urban Local Bodies (ULB) polls on Tuesday said that 95 per cent people stayed away from the polls, saying that scores of secret candidates were chosen unopposed, aimed to help the BJP in its electoral prospects in India next year.
JRL comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik in a statement issued here said that “by government of India’s own admission 95% people rejected these elections. It is a clear indication that the alienation of people of Kashmir from India is complete,” they said.
The trio said that “the leadership deeply appreciates and commends people for the political maturity and commitment to the cause of self determination shown by them in a comprehensive boycott of this election. People of Kashmir have sent a clear message to the Indian state,” the leaders added.
“If Government of India always projected to people in India and the outside world that a good percentage of participation of Kashmiri people in its elections is an endorsement of India’s rule, by the same yardstick GOI should now accept people’s near total boycott of the elections as a referendum against it,” JRL said.
The trio said that “this coercive and harassing exercise of elections, where candidates, polling areas and even polling stations were undisclosed by the ruling authorities, where scores of secret candidates were chosen unopposed was mainly carried out at this time, to help the BJP in its electoral prospects in India next year and to thrust the party on people of Kashmir.”
“By rejecting them people of Kashmir have conveyed that since 1947 elections have made no difference to them as directly or indirectly through pro-India regional parties, it is government of India which rules them and whose writ runs here,” they said.
JRL reiterated that J&K is a dispute and its people are asking for resolution of the dispute. “They are not interested in selection or election and no election can ever be a substitute for that resolution or a way to it. GOI should accept this fact and work towards the resolution of the conflict as per the democratic principle of people’s aspirations and will,” they said.
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