Broken promises rattle Ganderbal

The winds of change which swept Omar Abdullah out of Ganderbal 8212; considered his family8217;s fiefdom 8212; last year seem to have tou...

The winds of change which swept Omar Abdullah out of Ganderbal 8212; considered his family8217;s fiefdom 8212; last year seem to have touched this constituency once again. Only, this time the targets of public resentment and disillusionment are the Muftis.

A year after voting the People8217;s Democratic Party candidate, Qazi Mohammad Afzal, to power, the people here are angry about the promises unfulfilled. At Duderhama Eidgah, which saw a huge turnout at PDP leader and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed8217;s rally last year, rage is writ large on all the faces. 8216;8216;Here, in this pious ground, he promised to change our lives. Forget about doing that, he has not even bothered to visit us,8217;8217; said Ali Mohammad Bhat, an employee at the local Block Development Office.

At his rally last year, Mufti called on militants to give up guns and voice their grievances through elected representatives instead. 8216;8216;I attended that rally as I believed he was genuinely interested in highlighting our problems,8217;8217; said Fayaz Ahmad, a final-year student. 8216;8216;He talked about disbanding the Special Operations Group SOG of the Jammu and Kashmir Police. But one year has passed and the SOG shows no signs of going away from our lives. Putting an end to human rights violations was another issue on which he won votes. However, Kashmiris are still suffering. Talking about employment is okay but the Kashmir problem has to be solved first. The rest will follow smoothly,8217;8217; he added.

8216;8216;These people have fooled us time and again. Guns are the only option now to end our misery. What have they done for us in this one year?8217;8217; questioned 21-year-old Abdul Hamid Ganai.

Higher in the hills, Wandhama, where 22 Kashmiri Pandits were massacred in January 1998, seems to be caught in a time warp. The villagers are still waiting for Afzal to deliver on his poll promise of providing electricity. Hajra Begum, who, in defiance of her husband8217;s diktat ventured out to the poll booth to vote for the PDP, is a disappointed woman today. 8216;8216;They live in their fortress-like bungalows, far away from our miseries, hardly bothered whether we live or die. During the poll campaign, Mehbooba Mufti pleaded with us to elect Qazi Afzal from Ganderbal as the contest had become a prestige issue for the PDP. But we now regret our choice,8217;8217; she said.

Like her father, Mehbooba8217;s public image here has taken quite a battering. As the PDP8217;s star campaigner last year, she topped the popularity charts. But not so any longer. 8216;8216;In Haripathri village, she assured that her party, if voted to power, would give jobs to one member of every family and all the victims of violence would be rehabilitated. But far from employing anyone, her government has put a freeze on recruitment. Her father has stated that even a candidate for a constable8217;s post has to be a graduate. We miss Farooq Abdullah. At least he even employed barely literate youths as police constables,8217;8217; said Ghulam Mohammad Rather.

The only issue on which the Muftis barely manage to escape criticism is Indo-Pak dialogue. 8216;8216;Mufti cannot force India and Pakistan to sit on the table and talk. They have to be sincere about discussing the problem. But yes, ultimately Mufti will pay the price for any stalemate between India and Pakistan,8217;8217; said Mohammad Shafi Munshi, a villager from Lar.