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Winter has its own pros

and cons for Kashmiris

Recurrent snowfall tests successive snow fury. During first snow-
government but may draw fall on November 6, the administra-
tion took days to clear roads of snows
tourists back to Kashmir, and electricity also took several days to
restore.
reports riyaz wani
In Kashmir, the response to a snow-
his winter has so far turned storm is always a major test of the re-
out to be very harsh in Kash- sponsiveness of any administration. Con-
mir. The Valley has expe- sidering the fact, the winter in Kashmir
rienced successive heavy is harshly cold, the local governments
T snowfall since beginning of are supposed to be not only prepared
November, throwing life out of gear: for sudden weather challenges but also
electricity has been erratic, traffic move- once faced with the challenge address it pancy of hotels in the famous hill resort
ment has been affected, more so along in the shortest possible time. has steeply fallen, a rarity in this season.
Jammu-Srinagar highway and the flights But for all the hardships it creates for The absence of the tourists in the
have recurrently been grounded. For the people, the snowfall in Kashmir is a winter is put down to the still unfolding
seven days since December 6, no flights boon for tourism. It is expected to bring fallout of the revocation on August 5 of
operated from Srinagar Airport, leaving holidaymakers back to the Valley. But Article 370 which granted J&K an auton-
thousands of people stranded. this hasn’t happened so far. At 8,960 omous status under Indian constitution.
The new J&K administration under feet, Gulmarg, Kashmir’s wonderland of Kashmir has since been largely under a
Lieutenant Governor Girish Chander snow, has fewer tourists to serve. Accord- security lockdown and a communication
Murmu has struggled to deal with the ing to the tourism department, the occu- blockade. Even though the lockdown has

POLLS APART

Will Kashmir’s mainstream political
parties boycott future elections in J&K?
wonders riyaz wani
n a recent interview, the senior National Confer-
ence leader Mustafa Kamal said that his party will not
participate in any electoral process pending reversal of
centre’s decision to revoke Article 370 which granted
I J&K its autonomous position within Indian Union.
However, the party was quick to contradict his statement,
saying the decision to do so rested with the party president
Dr Farooq Abdullah and the Vice President Omar Abdullah,
who are currently jailed.
In raising the issue of the NC’s participation in future polls,
Kamal has given voice to a serious dilemma faced by the
political parties in the newly created union territory. To par- the UT: that Kashmiris want out of the system and secede.
ticipate or not to participate in polls. The same dilemma faced So participation in polls, all varieties of them, takes on
by the separatist camp. several interpretations. While New Delhi sells it as a vote for
The problem is that polls are not a simple democratic exer- India, mainstream parties in Kashmir generally a vote for
cise in Valley. They have a meaning and a dimension that goes governance, separatists see the voting as a betrayal to their
beyond the government formation. That is, they momentarily cause if not a support for New Delhi.
challenge the most basic premise of the political conflict in The successful elections thus pose a larger existential

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