Kulgam, Indian-administered Kashmir — Every day, Kaleemullah Lone leaves his home early in the morning to go door-to-door canvassing for votes in his constituency, Langate, 70km (43 miles) from Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
His campaign promises an end to pre-trial detentions and bureaucratic overreach, and to address the flailing healthcare infrastructure and rising unemployment in the Kashmir Valley.
But missing from his platform is any mention of the Kashmir dispute that has torn at the picturesque Himalayan region for decades and dominated the very identity of the political party that Lone belongs to, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI). India and Pakistan both claim all of Jammu and Kashmir and each controls parts of it. They have fought multiple wars over the region.
Indian-administered Kashmir is now gearing up to vote in its first regional polls in 10 years, after New Delhi unilaterally scrapped the region’s special autonomy in 2019 and stripped away its statehood. And the entry of an unlikely participant in the election has stirred things up.
For decades, the Jamaat, an Islamist social-religious organisation that has rejected India’s rule, boycotted – and asked voters to boycott – elections, arguing that participating would give New Delhi legitimacy over Kashmir. It spawned armed movements that have fought for Kashmir’s separation from India. The Jamaat is banned in India under the country’s anti-terror law.
Now, at least 10 Jamaat-backed candidates are contesting in the elections, to be held in three phases – September 18, 25, and October 1 – leading to confusion, hope, anger and speculation bordering on conspiracy theories.
“We want to show Kashmiris what is real democracy by our work after the elections,” Lone told media. “By fighting for education and securing employment, we will highlight the damage done to the core of our society because we stayed away from representing them.”
The Jamaat last contested elections in 1987, when it spearheaded the campaign for the state assembly under the Muslim United Front (MUF). But the elections, which most analysts believe were rigged by New Delhi to deny the MUF a victory, led to an uprising against India’s rule.
The Jamaat eventually became the fountainhead of the armed rebellion, led by a native rebel outfit, Hizbul Mujahideen, which was declared the party’s armed wing in 1990. (The Jamaat distanced itself from the hardliners in November 1998.)
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