Date:24/09/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/09/24/stories/2002092404580100.htm

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`Corrections' will help: diplomats

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Sept. 23. As Kashmiris go to the polls tomorrow for the second time in the four-phase elections, diplomats believe that New Delhi has the opportunity to "correct'' any errors that might have crept into the process. By and large, diplomatic missions have confined themselves to sending reports on the Kashmir elections to their capitals and taken care not to present their opinion on the polls to the media here.

According to officials in a key mission, they have not reached a final conclusion on the elections as there are three more rounds to go. Asked if there had been any "coordination'' of facts among the staffers of different missions who had gone up to Kashmir for the first phase, the officials replied in the negative. Overall, it would appear that the Delhi-based diplomats have adopted a "wait-and-watch" attitude while noting that the turnout for the first phase of elections were good.

There is little doubt that the positive remarks of the U.S. Ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, on the first phase have been good for the Government. They can only mean that the United States continues to see merit in the poll process and is hopeful that these elections could prove to be the first step towards grievance redress. Mr. Blackwill's remarks are a pointer to the sense the diplomatic community has made out of the first phase of the poll process.

In a related development, official sources said here that they had not interacted with the diplomats who had gone up to Kashmir for the first phase. ``Their job was to watch the polls and send reports to their Governments. We have had no contacts with them on these issues,'' they said.

However, they hoped that when the diplomats made their assessment, they would take into account the incidents of violence that continue to rock the State. They pointed to the terrorist attack on a police colony in Srinagar on Saturday and as many as four bids on the life of a National Conference Minister as cases in point.

The stage-by-stage elections have provided enough time for the authorities to prepare for the polls as best as they can and an opportunity to everyone concerned to observe the elections at close quarters. There have been reports of people being forced to vote in a few cases — the credibility of these polls would be advanced if the decision to vote is left to the people in all cases, observers feel.