The journey from 1996 to 1999 has been a bag of mixed experiences for Kashmir. The year 1996 saw two elections, but the Assembly elections in September were seen as a turning point, as Kashmir was reintroduced to the democratic process. The separatist conglomerate All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) termed the polls as a "farce" and claimed victory of sorts. They said the people were "forced to vote" by security forces and that an overwhelming majority of population had "boycotted" the polls.

But the "real electoral victory" was claimed by the National Conference of Farooq Abdullah that romped home with a two-third majority. The people who participated or stayed away from the polls had a great deal of expectations from the government ...

The message was clear even from the bitterest of critics of Farooq Abdullah that he stood a chance if he "performed". In the first two years of the Abdullah Government, the hopes of the people sustained and they thought they had seen light at the end of the tunnel. People could roam freely in Srinagar and other towns and the feeling of "militancy is fading" was gradually gaining ground. But common Kashmiris were not taking any chance.

And, Kashmiris soon saw the return of militancy in the face of corruption by some of the ministers and indifference of the administration coupled with inaccessibility of the government to the people. The militants reappeared on the scene by massacring people all across. Two major factors were contributing to the negative developments. The victims of militancy felt that the government was unable to protect them from militants' violence. On the other hand, those suffering at the hands of security forces also felt that the government was unable to guard them from the men in uniform.

That was inevitably seen as a failure of the government in taming forces of violence and excesses. Farooq was caught in a bind for he could not openly criticise the security forces for the human rights violations as he did before regaining power ... Also, the political leadership failed to promote confidence in the people of the remote and militancy affected areas.

Finally, the demand for additional troops and funds to the Centre went unheeded. This resulted in mounting problems for the state and then came the Kargil conflict which further thinned the presence to troops deployed on internal security duty.

The 1999 parliamentary polls saw the lowest ever voter turnout in the nineties. This was a fallout of the increasing violence and particularly the attacks on the Army camps. (Source: The Hindustan Times, 1 January, 2000)