By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
New
Delhi, December 2 (IslamOnline)-The Coalition of Civil Society
(CCS), a conglomeration of NGOs, which monitored the poll process
in Jammu and Kashmir and released a couple of interim reports
during and after the recent elections in the state, has now issued
in its final report that the elections were neither free not fair.
Releasing
its much-awaited 77-page final report in Srinagar, Saturday,
November 30, CCS said the “ elections were flawed both in
conception as well as in conduct.” It went on to elaborate, “
The fact that 822,567 out of an official electorate of 2.8 million
voters in Kashmir valley cast their ballot implies that more than
70 percent (of the) electorate boycotted the polls-which is to say
that the boycott was successful.”
It
added, “if coercion and malpractices are added to this, the
credibility of elections get further reduced.” Noted human
rights activist and member of CCS Gautam Navlakha said, “We hold
no brief for security forces or militants. We are open to
criticism.”
The
final report documents numerous lapses in the elections to claim
that unwilling voters were beaten up and “herded like cattle”
before being driven to the polling stations. Such incidents of
coercion and brutality marked “all the four rounds of the
polls.”
It
cites the case of a young woman who died of fright when she saw
people being beaten up by security forces for boycotting polls.
Another sick woman, who was still in shock, “was dragged out of
bed” to vote according to CCS reprot.
The
report said both security forces and militants were guilty of
coercion, the former more than the latter. “Side by side the
militant outfits demanding the boycott of the elections, too, put
a shadow on the exercise. The killing of National Conference
workers after the election process started also amounts to
coercion by militants. Besides, posters were put asking people to
abstain from voting.”
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| Elections under
heavy security |
The
report also pointed out the “flawed” nature of the elections
“held under draconian laws and abrogated rights.” Also,
“lacunae in electoral rolls and non-inclusive character robbed
it of substance.” It also blamed the Election Commission of
India for not ensuring revision of rolls as it did in Gujarat.
CCS
members said at the press conference marking the release of the
document, “Never before has one witnessed elections held under
(such) overwhelming presence of men in uniform, of deeply
fortified polling stations that looked like frontlines of a
battlefield, conducted by poll officials with bullet-proof vests
and helmets.”
The
CCS was also unhappy with militants who “need to be chastised”
as their campaign was “unwarranted and unnecessary”. However,
they took a softer stance vis-a-vis militants saying, “despite
warning of dire consequences by militants to the people not to
vote, they did not thwart people from participating in polls,
barring some incidents.”
However,
this assertion may not have many takers because militants did
their bid to “thwart” the polls and were held back only by
superior force. When asked why they did not conduct the same
exercise in Jammu region, they said, “We need locals for
assistance, but we did not get it.”.
