Perhaps we should start calling ourselves the Hizb-ul-Muhajireen" (Party of Exiles or Refugees), the Hizb ul-Mujahideen's Rawalpindi-based 'supreme commander', Mohammad Yusuf Shah aka Syed Salahuddin joked to a confidante last month. Shah's playful use of words didn't conceal the bitterness behind his remark: the feared army of Islamist guerrillas he had once commanded has now degenerated into a 'party of exiles', unwanted in both India and Pakistan. ...and then he led everybody in a rousing redition of "Sunrise, Sunset".
Although elections to the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Assembly are still three months away, both the National Conference (NC) and People's Democratic Party (PDP) have held dozens of rallies in preparation for what all the actors know will be an intense contest. Islamist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani is also campaigning vigorously, calling on his supporters to boycott the elections. High voter turnouts are, nevertheless, expected.
From his headquarters in Pakistan, Shah had shaped the outcome of the last elections in 2002, using his terror squads to attack NC activists and coerce its rural supporters. One hundred political workers, mainly from the NC, were killed during the election process — adding to 61 claimed by terrorists in the election process of 1996, 57 in 1997, and 76 in 2001. Helped by the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen's (HM's) not-so-tacit support, the PDP surged past J&K's traditional party of government in several key constituencies.