Their dialogue process with New Delhi may be moving forward and Hurriyat leaders may have indicated they aren’t likely to push for a boycott but it’s time for rebels to assert themselves. Hardline hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani, JKLF’s Yasin Malik and Shabir Ahmad Shah are planning to launch a vigorous anti-poll campaign—though independently—across the Valley. Other groups like the People’s League headed by Sheikh Aziz, who was recently released, the Jamat Islami and Sajjad Gani Lone’s People’s Conference, though not very vocal about anti-poll activity, are also supporting the three estranged Hurriyat leaders. Suprisingly, this time it’s not Geelani who is at the forefront of the anti-poll campaign but the Malik-led pro-Independence JKLF. Malik said today his party had held 17 anti-poll rallies in Bandipore area of Baramulla district ‘‘where we educated masses about the futility of fraudulent elections.’’ ‘‘I am telling you beforehand that they will arrest me and my workers,’’ he told reporters today. ‘‘I am sure they don’t believe democracy is a battle of ideas.’’ Militants fire at Mehbooba convoy on way to poll rally
