If the ordinary Kashmiri villager is inspired with hope, it is with the traditional National Conference or even the previously unheard of CPM leader Yusuf Tarigami.
The result is that the pro-government militants who painstakingly reconstituted themselves into political parties are falling apart and looking for political patronage from either Farooq Abdullah or the Congress.
Already some of the top `leaders' of the pro-government militants, commonly known as renegades, have withdrawn from the electoral fray after declaring allegiance to the national conference.
Javed Shah alias Ansar-ul Haq, who till last week was Parray's right hand and his party's brightest hope of a berth in the new assembly, from the Sonwar constituency (in which Abdullah is a voter), threw in the towel midway through the campaign and joined the National Conference. He and his wife, who was contesting from Khanyar in downtown Srinagar, both announced their withdrawal in favour of the NC.
Parray's second shock came from Ganderbal, where Abdullah is a candidate, Ghulam Mohammed Saidpuri alias Mama, Parray's treasurer, started making the rounds of Ganderbal and Kangan constituencies with the NC colours draped all over his spanking new jeep.
Nabi Azad's Muslim Mujahideen, which rivalled the Muslimoon in south Kashmir, also began to campaign for the NC last week.
Valiantly keeping the friendlies flag flying, almost across the road from Azad's headquarters at Khanabal, is Liaquat Khan, Parray's lieutenant in south Kashmir. Last week, he sat in his headquarters in the heavily guarded government housing colony, confidently predicting that his candidates would win seven seats in Anantnag district.
The tiredness of his smile told a different story, however, and he was not unresponsive to suggestions from a friend that he build bridges with Abdullah or other mainstream politicians before the results of the elections were out. If Liaquat was accused of browbeating voters in Anantnag, Ghulam Mohammed lone alias Papa Kishtwari, the Awami League's candidate from Pampore, became so frustrated with the alienation of voters from his campaign that, by the eve of polling, he went around telling them he would kill anyone who went to the booth.
Some of those who had crossed the line between militancy and counter-insurgency over the past couple of years saw the future early. Gujjar Sareer Khan of Baramulla turned up at Congress chief Ghulam Rasool Kar's public meetings last summer and was at the forefront of Kar's campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in May. Sareer Khan is now the Congress's assembly candidate from Baramulla and Salamuddin Khan from Kupwara.
For most Kashmiris, these gunmen-politicians are not only not acceptable representatives, disarming them is near the top of the political agenda. Many are cynical about Abdullah's promise of greater autonomy for the state, but say they'd be pleased enough if he freed them of the terror of the renegade. Having got used to power, easy money and a comparatively luxurious lifestyle in the latter part of the insurgency, they have taken to extortion, smuggling, loot, settling scores and generally throwing their weight around
