Two days after a village head was gunned down in Baramulla, scare and panic has struck the elected village heads and representatives in the region, forcing many of them to resign. Naib Sarpanch Muhammad Shafi Teeli was shot dead by gunmen in Kreeri of northwestern Baramulla district only a few days after Mr Geelani pleaded with militants not to turn their guns on their political opponents. Soon after the news about the killing spread, dozens of village heads and other members of the Gram Panchayats turned to local newspaper seeking to insert paid advertisements announcing their resignations. The drift continues which raises serious questions on the credentials of what are described as flag bearers of democracy at the grass root level.
Police officials have also admitted to the MLAs enjoying foolproof security and in contrast the members of village level statutory institution of local self-government virtually remain vulnerable to militant attacks. But given their number, the authorities have publicly expressed their inability to provide them security cover. Paradoxically, the legislators are against empowerment of the Panchs and Sarpanchs in the belief that could make them somewhat irrelevant in the scheme of things and make no bones about it. Jammu and Kashmir has 4, 128 Panchayats, with 29,719 Panchs and 4,130 Sarpanchs.
The village heads and other members of gram panchayats who have quit pleaded they be allowed to live lives of ordinary villagers. On Tuesday, a Srinagar daily Kashmir Uzma had published 43 classifieds in which both male and female elected representatives had sought to publicise their “resolve” not to remain associated with any mainstream political party in future.