The battle lines are clearly drawn. It is a fight between "Azadi" and "autonomy".

While secessionists strongly advocate boycott of polls to highlight their demand for "freedom", the mainstream parties are hooked onto the slogan of "autonomy and pace". Militants consider elections a compromise and have warned the voters against exercising their franchise, cautioning them that this would be construed as an act of "treachery".

The "Azadi" slogan is chanted by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and other groups like that of Shabir Shah's Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party:

They have been holding anti-election rallies and consistently telling people. "Nothing short of right of self- determination would satisfy the people of Kashmir ... " On the contrary, the mainstream parties a encouraging the people to vote ... They have succeeded in finding takers for it is commonly felt that economic stability is impossible without peace ...

The National Conference leaders constantly harp on the tune that they were the ones who ushered in peace after years of strife. This was the refrain of Omar Abdullah's speech at the main crossing here.

"Everyone can see the change in the scenario", he says and observes, "No one can work miracles but the party and government's efforts have brought a change".

National Conference leaders also talk about the continued efforts from across the border to incite violence in the State and how they have resisted it. We are trying our best, they say.

His main rival Mehbooba Mufti, is at her rhetorical best in Beerwa when she lists what she calls "one misery after another of the people of Kashmir".

She also makes to appeal to the women in the crowd by adding, "I am a women, a mother. I can understand the pain you people undergo every day and the harassment you face at the hands of men with guns whether in uniform or otherwise."

As for the voters, they are sharply divided. Some agree that the atmosphere is calm in Srinagar and some adjoining towns. There has been an upswing in the economic activity too. And the first few months of year were a boon as tourists came in large numbers until Kargil happened. But the opposite view holds that only some parts of the Valley were peaceful and that the rest of Kashmir was still reeling under the terror of violence.

The midnight knocks, demand for food and shelter, cordon and searches and frisking and beating on the streets still continue, they feel. For them there is no end to the fear. (Source: The Hindustan Times, 25 August, 1999)