‘Chance to break your silence without fear’: In Srinagar, PDP youth leader strikes a chord

In the upper reaches of the Ganderbal district, Waheed ur Rehman Para walks with slow deliberate steps. His head down, he shakes hands with everyone crossing his path as scores of supporters follow, shouting slogans hailing him. A member of the District Development Council (DDC) in Pulwama, he could not take oath of office owing to his incarceration under the stringent UAPA. Now, Para is a leading contender for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, which votes on May 13.

A youth leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Para is widely respected for having enthused many youngsters to get interested in the democratic process during the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir.

In his campaign, the 36-year-old amplifies the same pitch, and holding small meetings every few kilometres in different districts, urges people to “break the silence enforced on Kashmir” with their vote.

“The sense of suffocation needs a vent. The detentions, thought policing, political vacuum, all of this need to be addressed. All our issues are with Delhi and, for that, we need to be in Parliament. We need representatives who will not be silent bystanders but the voice of the people,” he says.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Para says: “Since August 2019, no single decision taken for Kashmir has involved the people of Kashmir. This is why there is a sense that people have lost their agency, especially the young, who feel disempowered every day.” Having their representative in Parliament would give them a stake in how they want to be governed, he says.

Para adds: “Our effort is to talk to the voter about the impact of August 5, 2019. We have one generation in graves, one in jails and another implicated in various cases. We have to gather our courage and walk