Security for candidates contesting J&K polls Pak inspection of Indian hydropower projects postponed
SAFE ELECTIONS More than 40,000 additional paramilitary forces are being deployed for the local elections
Right now, I am staying in a security zone, but I have not been allotted any security. Maybe I will get it after the scrutiny of my papers. I will get personal security and vehicle
ABID AHMAD, Independent candidate
Authorities will provide each candidate contesting the local polls in Jammu and Kashmir two to three personal security officers and government accommodation, officials aware of the development said. The facilities are being offered to ensure a greater participation in the polls amid a spike in militant violence.
“The candidates will not only get government accommodation but they will be given security and fuel for their vehicles,’’ said a top police officer on condition of anonymity.
Abid Ahmad, an independent candidate who has filed his nomination papers to contest municipal elections from North Kashmir’s Baramulla, said he was awaiting his security cover and accommodation. “Right now, I am staying in a security zone, but I have not been allotted any security. Maybe I will get it after the scrutiny of my papers. I will get personal security and vehicle,’’ he said.
Officials said over 40,000 additional paramilitary forces are being deployed for the polls. This is apart from 16,000 central forces, which were retained in Kashmir for the polls after the annual Amarnath yatra to south Kashmir Himalayas concluded in July.
Officials said the Army has been asked to step up night patrolling ahead of the polling.
The municipal elections will be held in four phases starting from October 8. The nine-phased panchayat election will begin from November 17.
As many as 16 sarpanches (panchayat heads) and panchs (members) have been killed over the last four years.
The local elections were due in January. But they were deferred after the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government told the Centre that the situation was not conducive for them.
The electoral process has been accelerated since the imposition of governor’s rule in June after the BJP withdrew support from the coalition government. The Centre has been keen to hold the polls as part of its attempts to turn the tide in the state, where local militant recruitment has gone up since the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in 2016.
Around 4,500 sarpanches and 29,000 panchs were elected in the last panchayat polls in 2011 when 75% voters had turned out to vote.
The government had earlier expressed its inability to provide security to most panchayat members, citing their large numbers.
Jammu and Kashmir biggest indigenous militant group, Hizbul Mujahideen, as well as separatist Joint Resistance Leadership, have called for an election boycott.
The state’s two main regional parties, the National Conference and the PDP, have boycotted the polls over the Centre’s unclear stand vis-a-vis the attempts to undo the state’s special status.
A bunch of petitions challenging the validity of the Constitution’s Article 35A, which prevents outsiders from buying property in Jammu and Kashmir, are pending before the Supreme Court.
SRINAGAR:
: India has postponed the scheduled inspection of its two hydropower projects on the Chenab river by Pakistani experts following the fresh tension in bilateral ties and cancellation of foreign ministers’ meeting in New York, according to a media report here Wednesday.
The Indian authorities postponed the inspection by Pakistani experts and said that it would not be possible due to the local-body elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Dawn news quoted a source as saying.
After the bilateral talks on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) last month in Lahore, India rejected Pakistan’s objections on the construction of the 1,000MW Pakal Dul dam and 48MW Lower Kalnai hydropower projects on the Chenab river and invited Pakistani experts to visit the sites to address their concern.
The experts were scheduled to inspect two hydropower projects by October but India cancelled it, citing some local issues, the report quoted the source as saying.
“It seems to be a fallout of the recent tension emerging with the cancellation of the talks by India as other issues are normally affected in a larger context in such situations,” the senior official, on condition of anonymity, said.
India called off the meeting between Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, citing the “brutal” killing of three policemen in the Valley and the release of the postal stamps “glorifying” Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.
The source said the Indian delegation had agreed to get the two projects inspected by Pakistani experts this month.
“Through a letter, India confirmed October 7 to 11 for the inspection of the projects by a three-member Pakistani team headed by the Indus Water Commissioner,” he said.
India said that since the administration of the respective districts in Kashmir would be busy holding the local-body elections till October 5, the inspection would only be possible from October 7 to 11, the source said.
“But now the Indian authorities have postponed the inspection... They didn’t give us new dates as they just stated to coordinate with Pakistani authorities soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Commissioner for Indus Waters Mehr Ali Shah expressed disappointment over the postponement and said that when something is mutually agreed at the state level, it should not be delayed or deferred on petty issues.
“We request our counterparts to fulfil their commitment they had made during their visit to Lahore last month,” Shah said.
The talks on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in Lahore last month was the first official engagement between India and Pakistan since Imran Khan became Prime Minister on August 18.
India and Pakistan signed the IWT in 1960 after nine years of negotiations, with the World Bank being a signatory.
The water commissioners of Pakistan and India are required to meet twice a year and arrange technical visits to projects’ sites and critical river head works.
ISLAMABAD