48% Kashmiris defeat 100% US doomsayers

The interest the world has taken in this election can only be described as morbid. They wanted to send official observers as though we were a country somewhere in the African outback. The aim must have been to spread the impression that the Kashmir elections were doomed to be unfair and unfree. That we have been conducting elections for half a century in a manner that has set standards for others was something the West did not want to bother with. They finally shut up only when the Chief Election Commissioner—may his tribe increase—declared that the days were gone when White men had to certify our political processes.

‘‘Observers’’ did go to Kashmir anyway. Enough diplomats to fill two luxury hotels were in and around Srinagar. Some 400 journalists roamed all over the place, scenting blood. They dug up juicy bits of dirt. But they could not condemn the election as rigged. Even the Big Chief in the US Embassy in Delhi had to concede that the election went off well. They certainly did, compared to what happened in Florida where Bush got his clinching votes. Another Bush was the Governor there, but neither CNN nor BBC probed how a great many votes went unregistered in areas dominated by Blacks. No observers went to Florida. It was as though everybody accepted as normal and healthy for American voting machines to go Republican.

For that matter, no CNN and no diplomat and no observer seemed interested in the famous referendums in Pakistan. When their blue-eyed Musharaff acquired for himself power after dictatorial power, all they noticed was what a valuable ally he was in the war against terror. Give the Devil his due; Musharaff has gained a great deal by playing the American game. Whatever Delhi might say, he has succeeded in internationalising Kashmir.

Indeed, Delhi’s weaknesses helped him. These weaknesses began with Nehru whose indulgence of the Mountbattens led to unforgivable follies. They continued after him—with Indira Gandhi playing narrow party politics, with the army being used in ways that alienated the locals, with Farooq Abdullah doing everything he could to set an example in misgovernance. The BJP’s inability to work out a coherent policy on Kashmir was further complicated by its Parivar advocating perverse ideas like trifurcating the state.

The net result is that we have played right into the hands of Britain’s sinister strategists of 1947. They had planned, during the partition parleys and subsequent UN debates, to pin India down so that it would not grow to its full potential. Building up Pakistan against India was the key to this strategy.

This election perhaps will give Kashmir a final chance to make a new start. Provided the rest of the election process is not sabotaged. Provided mess-makers like Farooq Abdullah and George Fernandes lie low. Provided Delhi and its Parivar put the nation above their agendas. Provided … oh, never mind.