Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday chaired an all-party meet to discuss the panchayat polls scheduled to be held on February 15 in the state, the Greater Kashmir reported.
The panchayat elections were due in 2016. However, in view of the unrest that followed the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July 2016, they were postponed. The previous panchayat elections in the state were held in 2011 after a 37-year hiatus. On November 4, 2017, the governor had promulgated an ordinance empowering the state’s chief electoral officer to conduct the panchayat elections.
Majority of the senior leaders of the opposition and ruling parties that attended the meeting on Sunday favoured deferring the panchayat polls, Rural Development Minister Haq Khan said. The leaders said the situation in the state was not conducive for holding the elections.
Khan said the governmnet will consider the views of the opposition parties and then take a final call on the polls, Brighter Kashmir reported.
In January, the Hizbul Mujahideen had threatened to pour acid into the eyes of the people who participate in panchayat elections. An audio clip, purportedly a leaked conversation between Hizbul’s Operational Commander Riyaz Naikoo and militant leader Sameer Tiger, was circulated on social media in January.
Separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik had also called for the elections to be boycotted. They had said any sort of polls under the “Indian occupational system” is only meant to “harm the interests of Kashmiris”.
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