AS soon as the Indian Election Commission announced the schedule for staggered elections for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly beginning from November 17, The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference and other Kashmiri groups decided to boycott the polls, which they termed an exercise in futility. Their leaderships reiterated their well-articulated position that elections were no substitute for the right of self-determination. JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik was quoted as saying that he did not want any violence to take place during the polls, but he would persuade the people not to vote because India was ignoring their basic right to freedom. The Indian government may not be right in its assessment that once the way is cleared for crossborder trade, which will commence on Tuesday, the situation in the Held State would automatically improve, especially when the Election Commission was divided over whether this was the right time for polls. The Kashmiri leadership's decision of boycott needs to be seen in the backdrop of the indigenous resurgence, further exacerbated by the controversy over the transfer of state land to a Hindu shrine board a few months ago. The ensuing demonstrations by Kashmiri Muslims led to the resignation of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad after the People's Democratic Party pulled out of the Congress-led ruling alliance. Since then, the Held State is under Governor's Rule. But peace remains elusive in the Held Valley as Indian troops continue to suppress freedom fighters struggling to liberate themselves from the illegal occupation. If New Delhi thinks that it can succeed in creating the impression that Kashmir is an administrative problem that can be fixed by holding polls it must be grossly mistaken. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has rightly observed that, instead of hitting at the root of the problem, the Indian government is hacking off the leaves. The flawed approach will have to be changed in the wake of rising insurgency, which keeps gathering momentum.