As Jammu and Kashmir goes to the third and final phase of Assembly Election 2024, all eyes are set on Sopore, the hometown of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the deceased supreme leader of Hurriyat Conference. The head of the umbrella organisation of separatist outfits used to openly advocate for holding a referendum in Jammu and Kashmir according to the UN resolution and talked about the amalgamation of the region into Pakistan. His hometown witnessed a muted election campaign and very low voter turnout in earlier elections.

North Kashmir: Hot Bed Of Terrorism

The final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Election 2024 will be held to elect representatives from 40 seats, including 16 from North Kashmir and 24 from the Jammu region. North Kashmir, comprising of Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts has been the hotbed of the separatist movement and the centre of terrorist activities in the valley.

Centre Of Terror By Let, JeM, TRF, Hizbul

This area was once the haven for the prominent handlers of terrorist outfits like Lashkar e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Hizbul Mujahideen. It was the central place for the activities of the People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), a LeT proxy group. The government banned it for using social media platforms to radicalise and recruit terrorists in the Kashmir Valley. It was also the place where The Resistance Front, a militant outfit raised by the Pakistani intelligence wing the ISI taking the cadres from the Let, JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen.

While Hizbul handler Mushtaq Ahmad Zarga and LeT’s Hashir Rafiq Parray and Mohammad Jameel Sheergojar were from Bandipora, Mohammad Umer Mir and Bilal Ahmad Mir were from Sopore. All of them have been gunned down in separate encounters with Indian security forces.

Infiltrations, Encounters, Gun Battles In North Kashmir

In September itself, three suspected terrorists were killed in two separate gun battles with security forces along the Line of Control in Kupwara district. Earlier, the security forces foiled an infiltration attempt by Pakistan-based terrorists who tried to sneak into India along the Line of Control (LOC) in the Gurez sector of Bandipora district.

In a separate incident, a terrorist was gunned down while a non-commissioned officer (NCO) was injured in an encounter in the Kupwara district on July 24. Three terrorists were killed in an encounter in the Keran sector of Kupwara on July 14 as security forces foiled an infiltration bid.

Two infiltrators were killed in another encounter with the Army in Baramulla’s Uri in April.

Heavy Deployment

The union government has deployed 22 security forces in Sopian, 20 companies in Kupwara, 17 in Baramulla, 15 in Handwara, and 13 in Bandipora.

Sopore Abuzz With Election Campaign

However, situations seem to have changed as the election campaign is in full swing in Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s hometown of Sopore. The erstwhile hotbed of terrorism and separatist movement is abuzz with campaign fervor, posters of almost all political parties of the union territory, blaring microphones and grass-root level cadre working day and night for their candidates.

People’s Conference: From Hurriyat Conference To Polls

The People’s Conference was a part of the Hurriyat Conference, which was against participating in elections, always boycotted polls and threatened the voters most of the time. When its leader Sajad Lone’s close confidante Sofi Mohidin contested the assembly election as an independent leader in 2002 from Handwara and won it, Syed Ali Shah Geelani was furious, he asked Lone to quit the umbrella organisation.

People’s Conference quit the group of separatist organisations in 2014, Sajad Lone renounced militancy, joined mainstream politics and contested and won the Hindwara seat. His party colleague Bashir Ahmed Dar won the Kupwara seat. Lone is contesting from both Hindwara and Kupwara seats this time.

Engineer Rashid Changes Election Landscape

The electoral equation of Kupwara was changed in 2008 when an employee with the Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, contested and won the Langate assembly seat in the district.

He built a political base for his party. He shocked everyone in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections by defeating a stalwart politician and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, with a margin of more than two lakh votes while still languishing in Delhi’s Tihar jail on terror-funding charges. Poor Sajad Lone finished third.

Now known as Engineer Rashid, the giant killer built a strong base for his Awami Ittehad Party and got a lead in 15 of the 18 assembly segments coming under Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, that he had contested. The AIP, still not registered, has backed 35 candidates, 15 in North Kashmir.

Jamaat-e-Islami Leaders Contesting As Independents

Jamaat-e-Islami, another constituent of the Hurriyat Conference, too has decided to quit militancy and separatist movement and join the electoral politics, reposing its faith in the Indian Constitution, against which it has waged a war for decades. It has opened the talks with the union government and applied for registration as a political party. It has fielded five candidates as independents for the third phase.

The AIP and the JEI have joined hands and entered into an unofficial coalition, not to fight against India, but to fight elections being held in India, under the Indian Constitution.

These erstwhile separatist organisations are in the electoral fray on the issues of unemployment, price rise, backwardness and development. They have promised to be the voice of Jammu and Kashmir and bring peace, prosperity and progress to the valley. Whoever wins or loses the polls in Jammu and Kashmir, it seems democracy and the resilient Indian state have won.