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An impressive exercise

THE STAGGERED THREE-week-long democratic exercise in Jammu and Kashmir has ended on a highly satisfactory note, with the fourth and final phase of the poll process having been completed on Tuesday in a manner that stood the critical tests of fairness, transparency and voter-freedom creditably. The task before the poll managers this time around was no less challenging than in the earlier phases, although the number of constituencies covered was fewer, just seven — six of them in Doda district, the seventh being Lolab (Kupwara district) where the election had been countermanded due to the killing of a contestant. Impressive in itself, the 52 per cent (provisional) turnout registered by Doda looks much more so when viewed against the backdrop of the redoubled effort by the jehadi groups to strike terror in the voters. That this was achieved despite a fidayeen strike in the early hours of polling — two security men were killed in the attack— is a clear testimony to the undaunted spirit of the general run of voters and their determination to defeat the sinister designs of the jehadi elements and their patrons across the border.

The sense of satisfaction expressed by the Election Commission about the whole exercise, which by any reckoning has been the most challenging to the security agencies and the poll administrators alike, will be shared nationwide. The overall average voter turnout, placed tentatively at around 44 per cent, should be considered "satisfactory", given the sort of adverse factors and hostile forces that had to be contended with. A good part of the credit should of course go, at one level, to the poll panel which had come up with some wholesome initiatives in critical areas affecting the credibility of the process and, at another level, to the security agencies for having, by and large, succeeded in ensuring a reasonably conducive milieu for the prospective voters to exercise their franchise, and this, without giving room for widespread accusations of intimidation or coercion. The process, thrown open as it was to international media and foreign diplomats, got a generally commendatory reaction during the first phase and, at the end of the day, as it stands completed, there has been no suggestion to the contrary. There is every reason for the Indian polity to pat itself on the back for having reaffirmed its democratic credentials, despite heavy odds.

Now, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have, by their impressive participation in the poll process, demonstrated their firm conviction in democracy and, more importantly, sent a clear signal favouring a peaceful settlement to the vexed `Kashmir problem'. Given the high stakes the various players have in power politics, the focus will naturally be on whether the mandate is going to be decisive or split and whether a single party or a combination of parties will form the new Government. These questions are doubtless significant in their own ways, especially as pointers, for instance, to the ideological complexion of the new set of people's representatives and to stability both at the governmental and political levels. But, in a more fundamental sense, what is vital is that the "first step", as represented by the successful completion of a truly democratic exercise, should be followed by creative policy initiatives for tackling the core issues of the Kashmir imbroglio, irrespective of the nature of the people's verdict or the shape of the new Government. The key political players, both at the Centre and in the State, must realise that the onus is now squarely on them to address the whole gamut of political, economic and developmental factors responsible for the deep-rooted and pervasive sense of alienation. For a start, the Vajpayee Government, whose approach so far has been singularly vague and ambivalent, must enunciate a clearly defined policy towards `Kashmir', in respect of its internal as well as external dimensions.

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