September 24, 2002	Tuesday	Rajab 16, 1423

SRINAGAR, Sept 23: India hails elections in occupied Kashmir as a victory of the ballot over the bullet, but the held state’s most prominent political leader dismisses them as a sham that will further alienate already jaded Kashmiris.

Abdul Gani Bhat, chief of the All parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), said the relatively strong 47 percent turnout in last week’s first round of voting had been rigged to show enthusiasm for an election India hopes will strengthen its rule.

“Many polling booths were empty, not even ghosts visited,” Bhat said on Monday, the eve of the second of four rounds of voting for a new assembly in held Kashmir.

“The strong turnout and fair election is as far as India is concerned. For us Kashmiris, the whole process is a sham, irregular and manipulated.”

“Maybe the figure will reach 110 percent. Machines are not perfect, you can tamper with machines very easily,” he said, referring to the keyboard-style voting machines being used for the first time. “You can have whatever percentage you want.”

Bhat’s estimate of last week’s turnout is 15 percent.

The Hurriyat is not running in the poll and has called for a boycott.

With Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee predicting an even higher turnout over the next three rounds of voting to Oct 8, Bhat challenged New Delhi to test its popularity with a referendum for Kashmiris to determine their own future.

“If India takes this (turnout) in their favour, let them hold a referendum,” he said. “This is a simple test. If they don’t agree, the election pales into insignificance.

“If the turnout is genuine, they have nothing to fear.”

Diplomats who watched the first round of voting last Monday, but were not official monitors, declared it free and fair and the election commission denies any irregularities.

But most of the diplomats were taken on official trips to particular polling stations.

“The observers were toothless, and probably wearing coloured glasses,” Bhat said. “The people of Kashmir’s alienation has irretrievable deepened because of this election.”

Bhat said the Kashmir dispute needed to be resolved in earnest as the future of over one billion people depended on it.

“Two belligerently hostile nuclear countries (Pakistan and India) are involved in Kashmir,” Bhat said. “The very survival of the South Asian region will depend on the outcome of the Kashmir problem.

“Iraq and Palestine put together, and Chechnya as well, cannot match the dangers inherent in Kashmir.”—Reuters