Voting ends in Indian Kashmir

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-24 23:36

SRINAGAR, India -- Hundreds of protesters chanting pro-independence slogans clashed with soldiers in the main city of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday, the last day of voting in state elections.

Indian security personnel stand guard as polling officers leave for duty in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008. Indian authorities stepped up security across the disputed Kashmir region on Tuesday to prevent planned anti-poll protests called by Kashmiri separatists ahead of seventh and last phase of elections to be held in Jammu and Kashmir on December 24. [Agencies]

At least nine people were injured when troops fired tear gas shells and used bamboo batons to stop the protesters marching to the center of Srinagar, a police officer said on condition of anonymity in keeping with department policy.

Separatists have urged residents to protest and boycott the poll, saying the election will only strengthen India's hold on the Himalayan region. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, where most people favor either independence or a merger with Pakistan. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both.

The elections, which began Nov. 17, were being held in seven phases. The results are expected to be announced on Dec. 28.

The staggered balloting allowed the government to deploy thousands of security forces in each area in a bid to prevent the deadly violence sparked by elections in 2002 and thwart separatist attempts to enforce the boycott.

Voting in earlier stages of the election was largely peaceful, with a higher-than-expected turnout of more than 60 percent, though scattered anti-India protests have continued throughout.

Nevertheless, voter turnout was low Wednesday in Srinagar, where authorities banned gatherings of more than five people to thwart possible anti-India protests, the police official said. Troops also sealed off neighborhoods with steel barricades and razor wire to prevent people from congregating.

Thousands of government troops wearing bulletproof jackets and carrying assault rifles patrolled the streets and guarded polling stations. Troops outnumbered voters outside the polling stations in several neighborhoods.

"How can we vote for the candidates who are being protected by soldiers who have killed thousands of Kashmiris," said Shabir Ahmed, a protester in Srinagar.

In Muslim-majority areas in Srinagar, voter turnout was about 20 percent. It was about 70 percent in Hindu-majority areas in Jammu, said B.R. Sharma, the state's chief election officer.

Some 1.6 million of the state's roughly 6.5 million eligible voters live in the areas voting Wednesday.

Police arrested three men Tuesday they say were planning suicide bombings during polling in Hindu-majority Jammu city. They said the three were Pakistanis, including one who was an active soldier.

A Pakistan military official said the man whom Indian police identified as Ghulam Farid had deserted the army in June 2006.

Relations between longtime rivals India and Pakistan have been especially tense since last month's shooting attacks in Mumbai, which killed at least 164 people. Indian authorities have blamed Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

India has urged Pakistan to crack down on Lashkar and other militants operating out of Pakistan.

Pakistan has arrested several senior members of the banned group and moved against a charity that India and others say is a front for Lashkar, but also urged India to provide further evidence.

Separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 to end Indian rule. The uprising and a subsequent Indian crackdown have killed about 68,000 people, most of them civilians.