Kashmir’s Elections Mask Deeper Turmoil: The Forest Lost Amid the Leaves

While Jammu and Kashmir's election season rolls on-with assembly and long-overdue panchayat polls-political leaders tout record voter turnout and democratic milestones, for others in the state these votes appear unrelated to the day-to-day reality of violence and uncertainty. The recent Pahalgam attack, which took the lives of 26 civilians, triggered a fresh round of cross-border violence and left border town residents in hilly border towns feeling deserted, with minimal effort made to evacuate them before strikes began.

 

While parties negotiate seats and percentages, local resentment simmers. Political analyst Zafar Choudhary states that there is widespread anger at the inability of authorities to protect civilians, a pattern repeated throughout the conflict in Kashmir. The elections, symbolically significant as they are, risk ignoring the underlying grievances, security fears, and yearning for peace that characterize life in this mountainous region.

 

Source: Al Jazeera, Chatham House, Wikipedia