[Reader-list] Oranges in Kashmir

[Shivam V]

Since June this year we saw the expression of anti-Indian sentiment
running deep and wide in the Valley, noticed even by the United
Nations Secretary General. But at the same time, it appears that
secretly, suddenly and quite strangely people's patriotism for India
was undergoing a re-awakening! This can be the only plausible
explanation (other than IB engineering) for J&K having a higher ratio
of candidates-to-electorate than even Delhi. 751 candidates in Kashmir
and 603 in Jammu and Ladakh, meant 0.02% of the electorate was
contesting. In the Delhi assembly polls, this was 0.005%.

1354 is twice the number of candidates in the 2002 elections in J&K
(709) and roughly two and a half times the contestants in the 1996
(547), 1987 (528) and 1983 (512) elections. So in a year when
anti-India sentiment was widely acknowledged to be the highest since
1989, the number of people in the Valley who wanted to dearly contest
Indian elections increased manifold!

The surprises do not stop here.

More here:
http://kafila.org/2008/12/27/oranges-in-kashmir-2008-elections-from-a-kashmiri-bloggers-perspective/