PoK brides lose voting rights after bid to run in J&K polls Premium

“If PoK is a part of India, what could be the possible problem with my citizenship?” asks Somiya Sadaf, who hails from PoK, but has lived in Kupwara since 2010. Her candidature was rejected and name deleted from electoral rolls.

Despite the chill infused by sub-zero temperatures in north Kashmir, 37-year old Somiya Sadaf is busy delivering motivational lectures to the progressive farmers of Dragmulla in Kupwara district but remains a mute spectator of the constituency’s District Development Council (DDC) poll scheduled for December 5. This is in stark contrast to the scenario just two years ago, when she herself was the candidate in the DDC poll in December 2020.

Ms. Sadaf, who originally hails from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), is married to a local Kupwara resident. On counting day in December 22, 2020, the State Election Commissioner responded to a complaint that Ms. Sadaf and Shazia Begum, another similar PoK bride contesting the DDC poll from Hajin in Bandipora district, were not “bona fide India citizen(s)”, and stopped the results of the polls from being declared in both seats. In November 2022, the SEC announced that a repoll would be held in both those seats on December 5.

“I was sweeping the elections. That is why the counting was stopped in its last leg that day. If PoK is a part of India, what could be the possible problem with my citizenship? I understand any citizenship issues if someone was from Pakistan. I had produced all the documents, including ration card and even my passport but still my candidature has been rejected,” Ms. Sadaf, who has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the Muzaffarabad varsity and a post-graduation in Urdu from Kashmir, told The Hindu.

Ms. Sadaf has not only lost the right to contest polls, but the right to vote in them too, as her name has been deleted from the electoral rolls. In fact, at least 150 such PoK brides are stuck in no man’s land in the absence of any government policy on their citizenship and rights.

Kupwara resident Abdul Majeed Bhat had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) into PoK in 1990 to join an armed militant group. However, he stayed on and met and married Ms. Sadaf in Muzaffarabad in 2002, with the couple having four children and raising a family together. The Bhat family returned to Kupwara in 2010 under a rehabilitation policy for ex-Kashmiri militants held up in PoK, introduced by the J&K government under then-Chief Minister Omar Abdullah

After she moved to her husband’s hometown of Batargam, Ms. Sadaf took up an initiative under the UMEED programme, a Central government scheme, and set up a successful dairy farm with 10 cows. She also started Zamzam, a self-help for local women to set up enterprises, and shared her skills in animal husbandry, dairy farming, poly house farming and computers. “I found people of Kupwara very receptive, and unemployment was rampant. I thought I should share my knowledge and skills with them and bring a positive change in their lives. People really reposed faith in me despite being an outsider,” Ms. Sadaf said.

Her successful farming venture saw J&K’s top officials, including advisers to the then-Governor, principal secretary and other secretaries, all visiting her unit in Batargam. “In 2018, I was nominated by the J&K government for a national award for promoting entrepreneurship. I participated in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s live interaction programme in July 2018,” Ms. Sadaf said.