All praise for Pakistan, not India.
NC and PDP flattering Pakistan to get votes
The National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), two pro-India Kashmiri nationalist parties, are invoking their bonhomie with Pakistan to seek votes in the four assembly by-elections scheduled for April 24. Both parties have locked horns in three Kashmir Valley constituencies: Pattan, Sangrama and Rafiabad. In Pattan, the NC has fielded Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, a senior leader and the younger brother of party patron Farooq Abdullah, to face PDP candidate Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari. In the 2002 assembly elections, Ansari won the Pattan seat as an NC nominee while Kamal lost from the nearby Tangmarg constituency. Pattan has a large Shia Muslim population but the majority of registered voters are Sunni. In Sangrama, Shoaib Lone, son of slain PDP leader Ghulam Nabi Lone, is contesting the elections as an independent candidate. The NC has decided to support him against PDP candidate Javaid Hussain Begh.
However, all eyes are on the way the two pro-India parties are using the name of President General Pervez Musahrraf and taking up the cause of militants to garner votes. PDP President Mehbooba Mufti has hailed militants as “holy warriors” and people being killed by Indian forces as “martyrs”, and even waved a green handkerchief at public rallies to show her affinity with Pakistan. Mufti is continuously reminding the electorate that her party’s electoral symbol of a “pen and ink pot” is also the Hizbul Mujahideen chief’s Syed Salahuddin symbol. The NC is not far behind. Former chief minister Farooq Abdullah has gone overboard in accusing the Indian government of turning Jammu and Kashmir into an army cantonment. But, Kashmiri observers see nothing wrong in the “unusual” canvassing saying it is election time and posturing was necessary to get votes - particularly in the Kashmir Valley. Also, the Hurriyat’s hardline faction has alleged that security forces are coercing people to cast votes. Chairman Syed Ali Geelani said that security forces have resorted to snatching the identity cards of people promising to return them only after the latter had cast their votes. “They are using tactics to press people to vote. But I hope the whole world will see what the Kashmiri people really want,” he added.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\04\13\story_13-4-2006_pg7_50