Amid heavy security and little vehicular movement on the polling day empty streets where turned into cricket pitches by many youth in downtown Srinagar on Thursday.
Many young men in the mostly deserted streets of the areaenjoyed the pleasant sunny day playing cricket on them using anything theycould lay their hands on as stumps.
Outside the historic Jamia Masjid, local youth used piecesof a broken window as stumps as they enjoyed a free hold over the emptystreets.
“This is probably after long time that all my friends areholidaying together. We decided not to waste the day and enjoy it by playingcricket,” said Mubashir Hassan, a medical representative for a multi-nationalcompany.
When asked if he voted, his friends joined in and said thatpolling is a “sin for us”.
“We prefer cricket over voting. It is a right of people todecide whether they want to vote or not. There is no force or coercion thateverybody should vote. We feel it is a futile exercise as we have seen sincechildhood hollow claims made by the politicians in fray are never fulfilled,”Hassan said.
Similar scenes played out around the historic mosque area inplaces like Rajori Kadal, a bastion of separatist politics.
Polling stations wore deserted look while youth were busysmashing balls for sixes and fours to enjoy their day.
The vast ground at Eidgah which is adjacent to martyr’sgraveyard also was packed with boys from different parts of Srinagar throngingto battle it out playing cricket on many pitches set up across the field.
“We have come from Ahmed Nagar to participate in a crickettournament,” said Nayeem Ahmad, a college student.
“I have never voted so far. Though I attained age of 18 whichentitles me to vote, but keeping in view the prevailing situation in thevalley, I felt it is better to play cricket rather than participate in anexercise which has failed people of Kashmir time and again.”
Along the 90-feet Soura road connecting Srinagar to Leh,youngsters secures areas for playing cricket by putting barricades at someplaces.
At other places lingering Kashmir issue kept most of theeligible voter away from polling stations. “Voting in Kashmir is bereft of anyfruit until there is a resolution of the Kashmir issue,” said Nazir Ahmad, whowas sitting on a parapet outside a polling station in Government Boys HigherSecondary School Soura.
“We have lost more than one lakh people in Kashmir. Be itsecurity personnel or Kashmiri youth, people getting killed needs to stop andthis bloodshed will stop once there is resolution of Kashmir issue.”
Ahmad said contestants who are battling it out in electoralpolitics were themselves claiming that they cannot resolve the Kashmir issue.
“Then why to vote?” he quipped.
People in downtown Srinagar have traditionally resentedelections.
“Nobody will vote in downtown until Kashmir issue isresolved. We can’t betray the blood of people for development,” said a youngman among a group of youth sitting outside a polling station in old city’sNowhatta area.