It was August 11, 2008, when the change first became visible. As hundreds of thousands swelled the highway to the Line of Control, vowing to cross it following the Amarnath land controversy, it reflected a shift in the contours of the conflict in Kashmir: a transition from the Valley’s history of violence to peaceful protests. With elections round the corner, it is this that may ironically prove the Election Commission’s biggest headache.

Separatist leaders like Yasin Malik have already asserted their right not to vote and the Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday announced the start of its peaceful poll boycott campaign, saying it would hold rallies to persuade people not to cast their ballot. Worried that a low voter turnout will put a question mark on the entire exercise, officials are in a dilemma over how to handle the “peaceful protests”. Sensing the public mood in the Valley, even militants have called a unilateral ceasefire.

Take the case of 22-year-old Sameer Ahmad Lone. Seventeen years ago, his father, Mohammad Shaban Lone, crossed the Line of Control secretly to get arms training. But Sameer has chosen to fight with words instead of bullets.

In these agitations, Sameer is accompanied by his neighbour, 17-year-old Insar Ahmad Bhat from Ushkoora village in Baramulla. Insar’s story is more tragic. His father Ghulam Mohideen Bhat too crossed the LoC to become militant in 1990 when Kashmir witnessed its first mass uprising, and died in a gunfight with troops two years later.

While Sameer’s father was arrested and released after a two and a half year jail term, Insar has no recollection of his father: “My mother says I was too young to remember his face.”

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