Scattered Violence in Kashmir after First Phase of Voting

17/09/2002| IslamWeb

Grenades thrown into a market and a political party office killed one person and injured 18 in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, a day after large numbers of voters cast ballots in the first round of legislative polls. Kashmiri nationalists fighting for independence or merger of the Himalayan region with Pakistan had threatened to kill voters, politicians and electoral workers.

One civilian died in a rocket attack on a polling station on Monday, and two civilians were hurt by a thrown grenade, but 44 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots, electoral officials said.

On Tuesday, there was more violence as campaigning began for the second phase of the election, to be held next week in Srinagar and Jammu, the summer and winter capitals of Jammu-Kashmir state.

One person was killed and 15 were wounded when suspected Kashmiri nationaliststs tossed a grenade into a busy market in Anantnag, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian police said. The attackers were apparently targeting a police patrol, an officer said on condition of anonymity.

A grenade was also thrown into the office complex of the Congress party in central Srinagar, wounding three people and damaging a car, said party official Mohammad Sofi.

A Kashmiri nationalist fighter was killed in a gun battle Tuesday between Indian soldiers and Kashmiri nationalists in Tral, south of Srinagar, said a BSF spokesman, Tirath Acharya. The fighter belonged to the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, he said.

The elections are staggered over four days in September and October and results are not expected before Oct. 12.
Kashmir, a flash point between India and Pakistan for five decades, had seen increasingly bloody attacks in recent weeks, with the nationalist fighters stepping up their campaigns.

Kashmir's main nationalist fighter alliance said many voters were forced to cast ballots, and journalists saw Indian soldiers going house-to-house in some areas, telling people to vote.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in fighting between the government and insurgents in Indian-ruled Kashmir since 1989. The former princely state is divided between Hindu-majority India and mainly Muslim Pakistan, nuclear-armed rivals that have twice gone to war over the Himalayan enclave.

India says Pakistan is trying to sabotage the elections by sending nationalist fighters to stage what it calls terror attacks. Pakistan denies the charge, but its government called the election a sham and said voters had boycotted it.

Omar Abdullah, who is the candidate for chief minister from the state's governing National Conference party, said Tuesday the voting was a rebuff to Pakistan.

"I think it is a serious rebuff and they are going to step up their plans for violence. But we will thwart their plot," Abdullah told The Associated Press after addressing an election rally in Khag, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Srinagar.

Dozens of soldiers and snipers in bulletproof vests took positions on rooftops surrounding the town square where Abdullah spoke to some 200 people. He was guarded by police commandos in gray uniforms, while soldiers and paramilitary troops stood by with rocket-launchers and rifles.

Omar and his father, Farooq Abdullah, the current chief minister of the state, are two of the most well-guarded politicians in India.

Kashmiri nationalists say that Farooq Abdullah's state government fixed previous elections with the connivance of the national government.

The New Delhi government is trying to show that these elections are free and fair, using electronic voting machines and inviting foreign diplomats to monitor the polls.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Indian force trooper receives first aid at a hospital, after a grenade explosion at the Congress Party headquarters in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, September 17, 2002. Three Congress workers and a security man were injured when suspected rebels lobbed a grenade at party headquarters in Srinagar. Security has been stepped up for state elections which end on October 8. REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli