With the numbers less important than their import, the Jammu & Kashmir election results are the best New Year gift India could want. Without question, Kashmiris have said yes to social peace, political moderation and economic development. And young and energetic Omar Abdullah, who might soon be chief minister, is the kind of face we need for leadership in new India. But the credit for J&K's recharged political landscape goes less to individuals in the electoral fray than to those ordinary people who defied the winter cold, poll boycott calls and terror threats. Throughout the 73-day democratic exercise, voters transcended the inter-community strife that had issued from the Amarnath land transfer row. In keeping with that spirit, their final verdict is a robust blow against ideological extremism.

The separatists are left wondering what went wrong with their best laid plans to thrive in a political vacuum. The hawks blame an absent gun. The doves rue neglecting Kashmiris' daily needs. There's more to these confessions than meets the eye. For one, separatism needs to hold the threat of violence over the heads of Kashmiris in order to remain relevant; for another, India's would-be balkanisers were deluded into believing that bread and butter issues would be overrun by a collective zeal for azadi. One lesson for the Hurriyat and its kind is that ideology is no surrogate for material well-being. Second, a minuscule group backed by bullet power can only fool itself by pretending to speak for the syncretic whole that is Jammu & Kashmir.

Going by poll arithmetic alone, the gainers in terms of improved performance are arguably those who exploited the Amarnath issue-related communal divide. The PDP has the largest base in the Valley while the BJP is upbeat in Jammu. Yet, among the political quartet claiming popular loyalties, the National Conference and the Congress call the post-poll shots. One is J&K's single largest party; the other is kingmaker. Both are secular-nationalist, pan-J&K forces. That J&K's reins lie in their hands is good for its developmental road map, as also for a resolution of the autonomy issue.

Omar has his task cut out on this score should he become chief minister. The Congress, slated to be the NC's coalition partner, must help open talks on an autonomy package between mainstream parties and local stakeholders. Progressive steps are required to ensure that a settlement is reached within the Indian constitutional framework. A new deal for J&K will take out whatever wind that remains in the separatists' sails. Addressing a long-standing popular aspiration, it will be the right way to honour Kashmir's mandate for peace.

After the Emergency: Bangladesh Votes
On 29 December, Bangladeshis went to the polls for the first time in seven years. The latest results show a landslide victory for the The Awami League-led alliance, however the BNP complains of iregularities and vote-rigging in polling centres. For the past months, the country has seen a frenzy of excitement and activity in preparation for the Parliamentary Elections of 2008, from the introduction of new electoral laws, to anti-corruption drives and biting oratory from all parties involved. Himal Southasian, in collaboration with the Drik Picture Library, a photo library and media organisation in Dhaka, is carrying original, up-to-date coverage of the events on the ground during the week of the landmark elections.

Odhikar and IFES Joint Statement on Election Violence

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