Indian Kashmir goes to polls today as separatists urge boycott
Monday, 17 November 2008
SRINAGAR, India, Nov 16 (AFP): Revolt-hit Indian Kashmir begins voting in state elections Monday amid appeals for a poll boycott by separatists who have spearheaded a wave of massive pro-freedom protests.
Both rebels and separatist politicians argue elections only strengthen India's sway over the disputed Muslim-majority region and have been urging voters not to turn out at the polls.
"Elections can never be a substitute for our right to self- determination," says Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a leading separatist and Muslim cleric in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian Kashmir where the insurgency has raged since 1989, claiming 43,000 lives.
Nearly 44 per cent of eligible voters -- considered a healthy level -- took part in the 2002 state elections despite militant violence that left 850 people dead, mostly pro-India political workers and leaders.
This time around there has been no pre-poll violence with guerrillas for the first time in nearly 20 years vowing not to use guns to keep voters away.
But anti-India anger is still bubbling in the Muslim- majority Kashmir valley since the eruption of vast demonstrations over a government decision to provide land to a Hindu shrine, a decision that was subsequently reversed.
The protests -- reminiscent of the early 1990s when the insurgency had just begun -- have left nearly 50 Muslims dead since June.
"I won't vote as a mark of protest against the killing of my fellow Muslims," says mason Khurshid Ahmed, 43. "I'll ensure no one in my family votes either."
Indian Kashmir was put under direct federal rule in July following the collapse of the state government over the land row.
Both rebels and separatist politicians argue elections only strengthen India's sway over the disputed Muslim-majority region and have been urging voters not to turn out at the polls.
"Elections can never be a substitute for our right to self- determination," says Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a leading separatist and Muslim cleric in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian Kashmir where the insurgency has raged since 1989, claiming 43,000 lives.
Nearly 44 per cent of eligible voters -- considered a healthy level -- took part in the 2002 state elections despite militant violence that left 850 people dead, mostly pro-India political workers and leaders.
This time around there has been no pre-poll violence with guerrillas for the first time in nearly 20 years vowing not to use guns to keep voters away.
But anti-India anger is still bubbling in the Muslim- majority Kashmir valley since the eruption of vast demonstrations over a government decision to provide land to a Hindu shrine, a decision that was subsequently reversed.
The protests -- reminiscent of the early 1990s when the insurgency had just begun -- have left nearly 50 Muslims dead since June.
"I won't vote as a mark of protest against the killing of my fellow Muslims," says mason Khurshid Ahmed, 43. "I'll ensure no one in my family votes either."
Indian Kashmir was put under direct federal rule in July following the collapse of the state government over the land row.