BANDIPORA, Nov 17: With troops patrolling shuttered streets and their leaders locked up, people in occupied Kashmir voted in a state election on Monday.
At least six people, two women among them, were injured when police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse hundreds of demonstrators protesting against the election in Bandipora town, police said. Two people were detained.
The turnout in three Kashmir constituencies was about 52 per cent, slightly less than that of the 2002 polls.
“We are voting for a better candidate who can take care of the roads and amenities, but don’t confuse this with the question of azadi,” said 45-year-old carpet weaver Ghulam Ahmad. “Everyone here wants azadi and we hope that the candidates we are voting for will take up the issue with the Indian government.”
Tariq Ahmed, a young man, said he would not vote. “We don’t want election, we want freedom.”
“They are traitors. Their participation is tantamount to selling out the blood of martyrs,” said protester Javed Ahmed. “My conscience doesn’t allow me to be part of any Indian-held elections. I will vote when we will be free.”
“We want freedom but we want development and progress too,” said first-time voter Arshad Dar in Sumbhal.
In Baharpora, more than two dozen men who refused to vote gathered outside the polling booths. “We will not barter the martyrs’ blood for the vote,” said Bashir Ahmed, 22, a taxi driver. “Those who vote are traitors.”
Leaders who either want Kashmir to become independent or part of Pakistan had appealed for an election boycott.
The response seemed to be mixed on a chilly morning.
Political parties brought in voters in jeeps to one polling station in Ajas village, while another group of men watched warily from a distance. Some of them chanted “Azadi, Azadi”.
Election was also held in seven constituencies in Jammu and Ladakh. The average turnout in those constituencies was about 55 per cent, the election commission said.
All the parties that competed broadly support Indian rule. “This reaffirms the Kashmiri people’s faith in the Indian democracy,” said Kulbushan Jandial, the state’s chief spokesman.
Sham elections
“These are sham elections. You can’t hold free and fair polls in presence of thousands of occupying troops,” said All Parties Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who was under house arrest.
“If the voting percentage is about 25-30, it is a boycott,” said Sajjad Lone, head of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference, at his home, where his movement was restricted by armed soldiers. He said certain poor wards could register some polling. At other places, the army might force people to vote, he said.
More than 30 leaders who had called for an election boycott had been detained under a law that allows police to hold people for up to two years without trial.
They were held for advocating “secession, breach of peace and intimidating people not to vote,” said a police officer. “We’ll not allow anybody to campaign against the elections,” he said.
500,000 Indian troops
An estimated 500,000 Indian troops are stationed in the region to defend the frontier, fight militants and now provide security for the election.
In Shadipura, dozens of villagers wrapped in woollen robes tramped in to vote at a fortress-like polling station. Others peered from windows to watch security forces combing deserted streets. Police outnumbered voters in many areas. Monday was the first day of a seven-stage election across the state.
“The polling has been by and large peaceful,” chief electoral officer B.R. Sharma told reporters.
Srinagar and other towns were almost totally locked down and thousands of troops were out in force to prevent anti-election rallies, witnesses said.
Police said they feared more unrest, particularly from militant groups, although they had vowed not to use violence to enforce the boycott. Meanwhile, an Indian soldier was killed in a gunbattle with militants in Poonch district along the Line of Control.
—Agencies
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