One election violently discarded. Another vociferously barked off.

In the twilight of his years, veteran Farooq Abdullah enters the Lok Sabha, a most blemished medal emblazoned on his lapel, riddled by voter rejection, stained by blood. The rookie Mufti Tassaduq, son to the late Mufti and brother to chief minister Mehbooba, finds himself running hell-for-leather scared from his debut battle, his nerves blown by prospects of pocketborough rage. Anantnag is the district the Muftis call home; it has refused to stage its prodigal's political inauguration. Srinagar has long played the Abdullah fiefdom; it has handed Farooq a wrath-eaten victor's certificate.

It is a hard time to be a mainstream politician in Kashmir, a popular one would be a far, far thing. Kashmiri validation for parliament has seldom been high; it has never been so low, nor as furiously spurned. Its images have come to be quickly and brutally embedded in our memory, like a burst of shattered glass - a posse of jawans being kicked and heckled along to polling stations by irate youth; a hunter pack of masked pelters raining stones where there might have been a voter-queue; an unruly cortege where there might have been a merry canvass convoy; a youngster bundled up and tied, hog-like, to the bonnet of an army four-wheel as protection against street assault. Such was this election, or the one that wasn't. Jawans arrived in preponderant numbers to conduct the vote; the voter did not.

Kashmiri democracy has become a dismal whore's offspring, a baby sired under duress that nobody in daylight wants any part of. Farooq's victory can't be a thing to celebrate, for it rings all too loudly of denunciation; it rings, bluntly put, of defeat. A resounding NO.

So where does Kashmiri opinion lie, how's one to locate or find measure of it? Like most things Kashmiri, the answers will be hard squabbled over. The State believes, mindfully opaque to homegrown reasons, that Kashmir's discourse is made in Pakistan and marketed by its Valley agents, a "professionally managed and paid for" offensive churned relentlessly on the street and on social media. The Valley has turned sardonic to such denial in the Establishment. There are now even those who venture that each Kashmiri decides for himself or herself, that they refuse to be led.

The mainstream parties lie bubbled in security and stricken by public ire. The mainstream separatists are either under arrest or moated from the people by khaki rings. And who's to tell what following they command? They've refused the test of the ballot, so, arguably, there lies a question mark on their sway and authority. Their response: We command a sentiment that elections cannot measure.

The most enduring and unwavering among them, the 87-year-old Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, is often beset by failing health. But as extant apostles of separatism go, Geelani is the most formidable in Kashmiri imagination. There was a time he contested elections and won; for decades, he has boycotted them as a sham and advocated "liberation" for Kashmir from "armed Indian occupation". Geelani has shown himself to be a man of remarkable resilience, politically and physically. But time will wear and wither him, inevitably. Who's to follow, if anyone? We pick a few who might come to embody - or share - his troubled legacy and wage on.

ALTAF FANTOSH

He is son-in-law to Geelani, is a committed pro-Pakistan secessionist and has been associated with Tehreek-e-Hurriyat since its inception. But Hurriyat insiders say he has limited access to Geelani even though he is part of the ruling family of Kashmiri secession. Geelani's sons - Naeem, a doctor, and Naseem, a professor of agriculture - are wary of him and his latent ambitions to succeed the old man as Hurriyat boss. They are so averse, they don't like seeing him about the Geelani household in Hyderpora, a posh neighbourhood close to Srinagar's Humhama airport. In his late fifties, Fantosh himself lives off a private premises in Bemina on the western outskirts of the town. He doubles up as a cloth merchant and has an outlet in Downtown Srinagar. That shop is a location that Fantosh has used as a hawala cash transaction point for militant outfits, intelligence agencies suspect. Fantosh is known to have backroom skills as organiser and co-ordinator; he played an active part in staging the protests over the clampdown on beef in 2015. He often accompanies Geelani on political outings but is otherwise seldom seen in public and lacks stage presence.

From the Police Files: "Subject belongs to an embedded Jamaati (hardline Islamic and anti-India) family. He was affiliated to the Jamaat-e-Islami since childhood and joined Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in year 2004, after leaving the Jamaat. Currently subject is in charge of raabta-e-aama (public relations) for Tehreek-e-Hurriyat..."

MASARAT ALAM

The gen next poster boy of jehadi separatists who was drawn to militancy as a teenager during the armed insurrection of 1989-90, Masarat Alam has spent the last quarter century in and out of jail on multiple allegations ranging from abetting and waging violence to secession. His first arrest was at the hands of the BSF in 1990, when he was suspected to be running messages and missions for Mushtaq Ahmed Bhat, a leading militant of the time. He is proud to claim himself a "stone-pelter since childhood". Born and raised in Downtown Srinagar, the 46-year-old has links with several separatist and militant outfits including the Hizbul Mujahidin. Politically, his views imitate Geelani's closely - seceding from India and merging with Pakistan. He functions under the Muslim League banner but the Tehreek-i-Hurriyat remains his home camp. Alam has played provocateur in most recent spells of violence and openly exhorts militancy. He openly endorsed the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008 and has a stated record of rallying behind the Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa boss, Hafiz Sayeed, held by India to be a key conspirator of the Mumbai attack. "Hafiz Sayeed ka kya paighaam, Kashmir banega Pakistan!" is one of Masarat's favoured war cries. He was released by the late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in 2015 as a "conciliatory, confidence-building" measure. Alam responded by mounting the militant stage and unfurling the Pakistani flag. There was outcry, particularly from the BJP, the Mufti's ally in government. Alam had to be put back behind bars.

From the Police Files: "Subject is from Zaindar Mohalla in Srinagar and was affiliated with Hizbul Mujahidin as a young man. Subject faces multiple charges. He played a key role in the 2010 violence by funding and encouraging unrest situation. "Go India, Go Back" is his slogan. Subject is an ISI agent."

ASHIQ HUSAIN FAKTOO

Also known as Qasim Faktoo, he is arguably the longest interned Kashmiri separatist, having been in jail since 1993. The main charge against him - a charge he vehemently denies - is of the 1992 murder of Hriday Nath Wanchoo, a human rights activist. At that time, Faktoo was a spokesman for Hizbul Mujahidin. Faktoo comes from deeply embedded separatist precincts. His grandfather, Ghulam Ahmed Faktoo, was a lead act of the Muslim Conference, and fought against Sheikh Abdullah's accession efforts in the early 1950s. His wife, Asiya Andrabi, is head of Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughters of the Nation), an unabashed pro-Pakistan platform that preaches radical Islamic values. A commerce graduate, Faktoo has spent his years in jail earning a slew of degrees and has a doctorate in Islamic Studies from Kashmir University. Arrested under the Public Safety Act initially, Faktoo was released for lack of evidence against him, but taken in soon after under TADA as he was returning from London having attended a conference on Kashmir in 1993. Faktoo believes his long incarceration to be a political conspiracy against him by successive governments. He has also claimed that government agencies have, on several occasions, tried to lure him out of secession mode by offering inducements and perks of office. He has spurned them, Faktoo asserts, and suffered for his refusal. He also denies reports he has any wish to succeed Geelani as separatist spearhead and alleges such reports are circulated to "divide our movement" and "keep me behind bars".

From the Police Files: "Subject is from Soura in Srinagar and was a member of Hizbul Mujahidin. Subject has completed PhD from jail and is president of "Muslim Deeni Mahaaz" (a charity organisation)... Subject is in jail for last 24 years... Subject is (illegible) of H.N. Wanchoo murder case."

ASIYA ANDRABI

For decades, the best known woman separatist of Kashmir and chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, the militant women's wing of Geelani's Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. Asiya styles herself ultra conservatively - her hands are forever gloved, her burqa is cut to reveal no more than her bespectacled eyes, not many can claim to know what she looks like in person. Asiya studied biochemistry (and later Arabic), and was inspired to go conservative by the life of Maryam Jameelah, an American Jew who converted to Islam and wrote extensive tracts critical of the Western way of life. Born Margret Marcus, Jameelah married a Pakistani Jamaat-e-Islami leader and spent the better part of her adult life in Lahore. Arrested several times during her now-overground, now-underground career, Asiya is known to have created a Valley-wide network of women, "jehadi sisters", as she likes to call them. She spent a two-year spell in jail with her husband, Qasim Faktoo. Like her secessionist peers, Asiya has unfurled the Pakistani flag and sung the Pakistani anthem on several occasions. She works in concert with Geelani and Masrat Alam.

From the Police Files: "Subject is a hardcore secessionist... Subject has deep links with Pakistan. Currently, subject is at large."

So is the jury on Kashmir.