A Thorn called Sopore
Daanish Bin Nabi
Sopore known for 3Rs – Rab, Rrood and Roupiye – has always been a spike in the eyes of
The town has also
one of the largest fruit trade centre known for its famous apple production. Locals in Sopore allege that had they not
been wealthy enough the government
would have starved the local population
to death. Bashir Ahmad Bhat an
agriculture officer by profession says “Its Allah’s will that we still are alive and it’s our
orchards which keep us alive.
Government always looks for excuses for
the people of Sopore to take revenge from
us because of our pro-freedom stand.” Sopore
is the strong citadel of Syed Ali Geelani, the seasoned Hurriyat leader who also represented
Sopore three times in legislative
assembly. In fact he remains the
elected leader to garner the highest
number of votes in the history of this volatile
town.
Elections and Sopore
Sopore has always remained the hot-bed of Kashmir politics with strong presence of Jamaat-e- Islami. Sopore was once the hub of every
mainstream party including
Jamaat-e-Islami with its star
campaigner Syed Ali Geelani campaigning for the party. However, all this changed with
the death of Sheikh Abdullah and
burning of his posters by the young
youth which included Mohammad Yasin
Malik. It is whispered that every anti-government
protest which has erupted so far has
its genesis from this “pro-freedom” bastion. The people of Sopore have seen both the golden era of 70s and 80s as well as the
turbulent times of 90s. However, this
time the people of this turbulent town
face dilemma of whether to cast their
vote or again to lead in boycotting the elections with majority of people in the town
saying that how it matters for the
people here who will win this seat. A
local shopkeeper Tariq Bhat says, “All
the mainstream parties are same for us
and it makes very little difference to us who becomes MLA of this area as nothing will change the ground realities. Let it be a BJP
candidate this time.” Voting or boycotting again means little for
the people of Sopore. People of this
town still have to face discrimination
from the government. But if they
boycott again this time there are abundant chances that a BJP Hindu candidate can come to power. “If a BJP candidate wins it will be
a disgrace for us Soporians,” says
Sideeq Ahmad Shah, a student graduating
from Sopore Degree College. On asking
him whether he is going to vote, the
young lad in chaste Kashmir said, “Meyn Bedbaban te trauv ne vote emen Hindustan
pasand party yen te be kya travi”
(even my grandfather has not voted for
these pro India party, how can I vote).
Statistics so far show that if Soporians boycott the soon to be held assembly
elections BJP would win this resisting
town which will boost BJP’s strength
manifold in Jammu and Kashmir. Sopore’s power house, the Trader Federation
Sopore president Mohammad Ashraf Ganai
says ours is a non-political amalgam
and cannot comment on the emergence of
BJP in Sopore. However, he says “my own
views are that there should be a
boycott of the elections as people of Sopore have always been doing.” Meanwhile, there are reports that while BJP
was eyeing to win the volatile Sopore
assembly segment with the help of
migrant votes, the party has failed to
field any candidate from the constituency. Ramesh Arora, state vice-president of BJP and in-charge, Kashmir, which they have decided not to field any candidate in certain
constituencies. The party's media
relation team had built hype around the
Sopore assembly seat which, it said,
was likely to grab with the help of migrant Kashmiri Pandit votes. Reports also says that
BJP has decided not to field any
candidate as they want to support the
parties with whom there is a
possibility of post-poll alliance. Deputy
Commissioner Baramulla, Farooq Ahmad Lone,
confirmed that no BJP candidate has filed
nomination papers from Sopore. “Nomination of seven independents were rejected out of 23 and there are 16 candidates in fray from
Sopore now,” he said. In the last Parliamentary elections, out of
the 1052 votes polled in Sopore senior
PDP leader and MP Muzaffar Hussain Beig
received 535 votes, NC candidate got
262, BJP candidate got 12, and BSP
candidate got 2. The overall voter percentage was 1.02 percent with most of these votes
being polled in remote corners of
Sopore; the town witnessed zero percent
voting. Presently there are over 1200
voters registered by the party from the community in Sopore, a figure that is likely
to double in the coming days. To ensure
that happens, reports say BJP activists
from the community are reviving
memories of an emotional tale from 1990
while seeking votes for the party. Whenever
there is election time or any other mega
event of the government the entire town gets locked down. Same is the case with the
election boom now as the people here
are frisked and live under constant
fear psychosis. But the resilience of
people is as green as ever. Sopore is also
a town which has opposed everything that the BJP stands for. And come elections, apart
from security personnel, no one dares
to venture out on the streets, let
alone vote. When whole valley is under
the fever of elections this is only town
were neither a single poster is visible of any mainstream party nor any worker is
visible asking votes from the people,
apart from peripheries of the town. National Conference legislator and party
candidate for restive Sopore
constituency Haji Muhammad Ashraf
Ganaie even confessed that he is not
able to move freely in Sopore. He said that people, especially youth are not interested
in elections. “Right from 2008, the
year when I was elected legislative
member, I could not roam freely in the
town where anti-India sentiments are very
deep,” he maintained. He further said,
“Geelani Sahab is an influential leader
and people do support him by heart. There is no denying this fact that people love and
respect Geelani sahab and they follow
his diktats in letter and spirit. Major
portions of Sopore boycott elections on
his call,” he said. If Sopore Assembly seat with the support of migrant voters gets into
the kitty of pro-Hindu party Bhartiya
Janata Party (BJP) then Indian media
will give it negative twist if BJP bags
Sopore seat with the support of migrant voters, he said.
The Police State
Names like Gaza Pati (Gaza Strip), Kandhar are some synonyms used to describe Kashmir,
however, for Sopore noms de guerre is
Kandhar. This ill-fated town is the
only town of Kashmir which shuts at 6
pm. The locality of Batapora is literally kept under the tight vigil of SOG and Army. On November 15, I was near State bank of
India, a known landmark of the town at
around 6 pm and the whole town was
reeling under darkness. From Srinagar
two young ladies were accompanying us.
On entering the town in darkness the Sumo driver asked them where they have to go. But
in a typical Kashmiri manner both the
ladies remained tight lipped. Upon
reaching Degree College Sopore both of
them started to get down from the Sumo
but at this time the driver stopped them and again enquired from them where they are
heading. On seeing concern from the
driver one of ladies replied that they
have to go to Batapora. The driver
suggested not to be in that area as SOG men harass the women folk. The driver then first
dropped us and then accompanied the
ladies to their respective place. Such
is the condition the people of Sopore
have to face on daily basis. Sopore
also known as Apple Town always remains abuzz with the news of posters of various
militant outfits, posters to kill the
people who have collaborated with the
agencies in one way or the other. In
the latest to this series one of outfits has publicly threatened to kill people who,
according to the poster, are associated
with various security agencies. “We had warned these people several times
and will kill them the moment they are
spotted,” the poster threatens. However, police is not sure about the
credibility of these posters given to
the past experience. According to
police such posters have surfaced in past
and during the course of investigations, they were proved fake and the handiwork of some youth— not related to the militancy. “We have
so far three times witnessed the
surfacing of posters in Sopore. At
first it was after the culmination of parliamentary
elections. One and half month ago some
posters were again witnessed in peripheries like Bomai village. But both the times they
proved fakes with no connections to any
militant outfit. However, recently one
Sarpanch with few more youths were
asserted along with their computer, where
such posters were prepared and pasted on the walls in Sopore,” said Ghulam Hassan
Bhat, DIG Baramulla. All new young faces which are in fray to
contest this assembly election want all
this fear psychosis to get changed for
the betterment of the people. General
Secretary Shahzada Asim of newly formed party Teherek-e-Haq says that we are only in
elections to change the present
scenario of the town and to try build
the trust deficit between police and
the people of the Sopore. Sajad
Mohiddudin Sheikh who is an independent candidate for assembly elections said that,
“He wants to free Sopore from the
clutches of Police,” (reads his first
ever press release rereleased to media.)
Conclusion
With the fading and limited days of old stalwart of Sopore, Syed Ali Geelani, and the increasing
use of drugs by youth of Sopore time is
not far when this town can explode and
take India by surprise again in the
same manner it did in early 90s. And with
ever increasing radicalization of youth in Sopore this time it will be very difficult
for India to control this new wave of
gun culture.
Author is Online
Editor at Rising Kashmir and can be mailed at daanishnabi@gmail.com
Published on November 25, 2014.
