The announcement of holding the Panchayat polls in Kashmir has brought to fore a startling reality of a vicious cycle of violence in the restive state where Sarpanches are the latest ‘sitting duck” targets of political killings.

The announcement of holding the Panchayat polls in Kashmir has brought to fore a startling reality of a vicious cycle of violence in the restive state where Sarpanches are the latest ‘sitting duck” targets of political killings. The numbers also prove it: since 2011, more than seventeen Sarpanches have been killed in different of Kashmir by suspected militants and more than a thousand have resigned due to fear. With the rise in local militancy and the speculations over scrapping of Article 35A, the state is already sitting on a powder keg. Will the scared Sarpanches participate in the polls this time?