Kashmiris cast protest votes in first local elections since India revoked statehood

By Diaa Hadid

Published September 18, 2024 at 4:20 PM EDT

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Across the Indian-administered territory of Kashmir, residents are casting their ballots for the first assembly election since the Indian government stripped away Kashmir's statehood five years ago. And it is emerging as a protest vote against India, as NPR's Diaa Hadid reports.

DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Men and women file into separate lines in the early morning in the Kashmiri town of Pulwama as they wait to do something that many of them have never done before - vote. They include Shahid, 33.

SHAHID: (Speaking Urdu).

HADID: He requests to only use his first name. He tells NPR's producer Omkar Khandekar that he's afraid of reprisals. Shahid says, like many here, he boycotted elections, partly to protest India's rule of Kashmir.

SHAHID: (Speaking Urdu).

HADID: He says now he's voting for someone who can speak up for Kashmiris.

For decades, Kashmir had special autonomy within India, a nod to its unique status - a rare Indian Muslim majority territory straddled between India and Pakistan, fought over by both those nuclear-armed neighbors three times. But Kashmir's special autonomy irked Hindu nationalists, including the ruling BJP, who say it was a gesture to appease India's Muslim minority.

But since Kashmir's statehood was revoked, human rights groups say the government has suppressed any potential criticism of the move. For a while, phone lines and the internet was cut in Kashmir. A curfew was imposed. Journalists and politicians were detained, so were hundreds of men. Five years on, that sense of oppression is propelling Kashmiris to vote. This is Imran Nabi Dar, a spokesman for one of Kashmir's largest political parties.

IMRAN NABI DAR: It's not about any political party right now. It is about getting our rights back. We have been pushed to the wall.

HADID: But a candidate running for the Hindu nationalist BJP says before Kashmir's statehood was revoked, residents lived in fear, with militant attacks, protests and strikes.

ASHOK BHAT: (Non-English language spoken).

HADID: Candidate Ashok Bhat gestures around his neighborhood.

BHAT: (Non-English language spoken).

HADID: He says, "AK-47s were fired from these streets." He says, "now there's quiet." And he campaigns door to door with a simple message.

BHAT: (Non-English language spoken).

HADID: "If your son steps out of the house, he'll return home."

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

HADID: But at the rally for Waheed ur Rehman Para, the candidate says men are still going missing. He estimates more than 2,000 Kashmiri youths are in detention or jail. For a while, that included Para himself, accused of terror funding. He says he was stripped, tortured, humiliated. And Para's incarceration seemed to resonate with the thousands who crowded to kiss his hands.