The election to the State Assembly caused tension to run high in Itoo's far-flung constituency of Noorabad, in South Kashmir. New Delhi hopes the election, which began last week, will legitimize its rule in the disputed region and reduce support for a 13-year separatist revolt.
Itoo, the only woman minister in Kashmir's ruling National Conference Party, is surrounded by paramilitary men and commandos. Her three-story house looks like a fortress. She needs the protection. The militants, who have vowed to kill anyone involved in the elections, made two attempts on her life within 24 hours. Last week, a grenade was thrown at her front door, one of several grenade attacks on her home. She was not in at the time and nobody was hurt. Also last week, a policeman and a teenaged girl were killed and several people were wounded when a bomb exploded near her motorcade.
More than 570 people, including a state Law Minister, have been killed since the elections were announced on August 2nd.
Itoo said she did not know why the militants seem to be trying so hard to kill her. The first attack on her motorcade was claimed by a little-known militant group called Lashkar-e-Jabbar. The second was claimed by Kashmir's leading rebel group, the pro-Pakistani Hizbul Mujahedin. "Our target was not Itoo but her security escort," a Hizbul spokesman told reporters after the September 21st mine attack.
The attacks have scared Itoo. Her house has been fortified, with visitors allowed entry only after a thorough frisking by security forces. Militants who infiltrate from Pakistan to join their comrades fighting Indian rule infest the mountains surrounding her home village. Itoo is single and there are no men in her family.
She said she was pressed into politics after militants killed her father, a former Speaker of the state legislature, in 1995. Her father's supporters came to her house and said, 'Now you have to take over." The oldest of three sisters, she gave up her medical studies to enter politics.
Two years ago militants gunned down her uncle. "Militancy is the number one problem here, it has grown in recent months," says Itoo. "I hope people will give them a reply with their vote." The polling in her constituency of 50,000 people is set for Tuesday in the third phase of a staggered election. The last round will take place on October 8th.
Pakistan says the elections are a farce and cannot be a substitute for a UN plebiscite to decide Kashmir's future. The region has been a flash point between India and Pakistan for more than 50 years. Their armies have been facing off on their frontier in Kashmir since December. Indian leaders accuse Pakistan of supporting the rebels while Pakistan blames India for shunning peace talks.
Itoo urges the people of Kashmir to think about their own welfare, not the international confrontation, when deciding whom to vote for. "I don't talk about these things to my people, I tell them to look at the work I have done, we have built roads, bridges," says Itoo. "There might have been some shortcomings, but we will rectify them after we get another chance."
Itoo is up against seven other candidates in the election. On Thursday she addressed several roadside rallies urging people to re-elect the ruling party to ensure "progress and stability." At one of them she was strongly supported by Kashmir's Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, who told her constituents that she has done a great job. "She always comes to me with your problems," Abdullah said. But she is having trouble getting a crowd. Since the September 21 attack, many have chosen not to attend her rallies, fearing death or injury.
