Voting begins in Indian Kashmir under tight security

---

BANDIPORA, India, Nov 17 (Reuters): With armed troops patrolling shuttered streets and separatist leaders locked up, Indian Kashmiris voted in a state election Monday, casting their ballots for better roads and civic amenities.
It was too early to get a firm idea of the turnout across the state Monday morning, but it was clear that many Muslim Kashmiris were voting for better local government even if they did not accept Indian rule in their troubled state.
"We are voting for a better candidate who can take care of the roads and better amenities but don't confuse this with the question of Azadi (freedom)," said 45-year-old carpet weaver, Ghulam Ahmad in Bandipora in northern Kashmir.
"Everyone here you see wants Azadi and we hope that candidates we are voting for will take up the issue of Azadi with Indian government," he said, echoing the comments of many voters in the Kashmir Valley.
Bandipora lies 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Sringar, the heart of the separatist rebellion, which will vote later in a seven-stage election.
Separatist leaders, who either want Muslim-majority Kashmir to become independent or part of Pakistan, have appealed for a boycott of the vote, after some of the biggest anti-India protests in Kashmir this year since an insurgency erupted in 1989.
The response seemed to be mixed.
At one polling station in Ajas village, political parties brought in voters in jeeps, while a group of other men stood watching warily from a distance.
Suddenly, some of them began shouting 'Azadi Azadi'.
In Bandipora, Tariq Ahmed, a young man, said he would not vote. "We don't want election, we want freedom."
Control of Kashmir is principally split between India and Pakistan, with a sparsely inhabited stretch of Himalayan plateau also held by China.
The Indian-ruled portion, the state of Jammu and Kashmir, is made up of the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley, the Hindu-majority Jammu region and mainly Buddhist Ladakh.
Monday is the first day of a seven-stage election across the entire state. The Kashmir valley remains the focus of the vote after police killed at least 42 people this year during pro-independence protests.
The Indian government is hoping for a decent turnout to bolster the legitimacy of democracy and its rule in Kashmir -- all the parties competing on Monday broadly support Indian rule.
Separatists predict a low turnout in the Kashmir Valley.
"If the voting percentage is about 25-30, it is a boycott," Sajjad Lone, head of the separatist Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference, told Reuters at his home, where his movement is restricted by a posse of armed soldiers.
He said certain poor wards could register some polling. At other places he said the army might force people to vote.
Separatist guerrillas have in the past used violence to scupper elections, but this year, the United Jihad Council (UJC), a Pakistan-based militant alliance fighting Indian troops in Kashmir, rejected the use of violence to force a boycott.
Officials say that more than 43,000 people have been killed in conflict in Kashmir, but violence has declined significantly since Pakistan and India began a peace process in 2004.
But an estimated 500,000 Indian troops are stationed in the region to defend the frontier, fight separatist militants and now provide security to the elections.
Policemen outnumbered voters in most areas of the region.