Poor turnout, violence mar Kashmir poll

ANANTNAG, Kashmir, 2 October — Poor turnout with large-scale violence marked the third and the most decisive round of polling in yesterday’s Kashmir Assembly elections. There were also charges of massive coercion and intimidation of voters by security forces. With yesterday’s voting, voters in 80 constituencies have exercised their franchise. The last round will be held on Oct. 8 and counting will begin on Oct. 10.

Yesterday’s polling was for 27 seats in four districts: Anantnag and Pulwama in south Kashmir plus Udhampur and Kathua in the Jammu region. Chief Electoral Officer Pramod Jain said that the overall poll percentage in the four districts was 41.1 percent.

Arab News toured some 10 constituencies in Anantnag and Pulwama including militant-infested Tral, Kulgam and Pampore. There was no enthusiasm among people in these areas. When asked the reason for their indifference, most of them answered that they had no faith in the system since "It can never fulfill our aspiration of azaadi (freedom)." Many others in other areas expressed similar sentiments. In one village, people said that soldiers had broken window panes and doors and forced the villagers to come out of their house to vote. One villager said, "Army personnel first told us to vote and when we refused, they started breaking our windows and doors and compelled us to vote."

Meanwhile, militants blasted a vehicle carrying BSF personnel in Awantipore area of Pulwama district yesterday. Seven soldiers were killed and two injured. Militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) planted on the main road as the minibus carried personnel back to their camp after poll duty.

In another violent incident at Hiranagar, militants stopped a van, threw a bomb into it and opened fire, killing seven people. Three men dressed in khaki threw grenades and opened fire at close range on a bus and on pedestrians along the Jammu-Pathankot highway. Ten people, including eight security personnel, were injured as militants targeted polling stations at 12 places in Anantnag and Pulwama using rockets, grenades and improvised explosive devices, official sources said. Militants set off two powerful explosions inside polling stations at Gulzarpora-Taknu and Litter, wounding three policemen, Sources said militants also fired at polling stations at Wagat and Soimoh but nobody was injured.