Three Dead as Violence Mars Start of Kashmir Vote

01/10/2002| IslamWeb

At least three people were killed when Kashmiri nationalists opened fire on a bus in Indian Kashmir Tuesday as a third round of elections got under way in some of the troubled state's most volatile districts. Terrified passengers traveling from Delhi to the Himalayan state crouched on the floor of the vehicle for 20 minutes as suspected nationalist fighters -- dressed as Indian security forces -- opened fire with automatic rifles.

"There were two to three people wearing police uniforms," said passenger Bhushan Lal. "They opened fire on the bus as we crouched on the floor."

The attack, in Kathua in the Jammu region of the state, killed three people and injured at least 10, officials said.

Bhushan said victims were left lying in pools of blood.

India sees the vote as a means of enhancing the legitimacy of its rule in its only Muslim-majority state, where an uprising for self-determination has raged for 13 years, but over 600 people have been killed since early August when election plans were announced.

The poll -- held in four stages to enable Indian forces to provide better security -- ends next Tuesday, with counting and results due on October 10.

The Election Commission said all of the 2,045 polling booths for Tuesday's vote had been classified "sensitive" or "hypersensitive" because of the risk of nationalists' attacks.

The booths opened at 7 a.m. in four districts, including sensitive areas around the towns of Anantnag and Pulwama in southern Kashmir, traditional bastions of nationalists' attacks.

Early signs suggested voters were staying away.

Despite heavy security on the streets of Anantnag, there was no sign of voters and most shops and businesses stayed shut.

Late Monday, nationalist fighters had fired on a polling station in the Anantnag area, wounding two Indian soldiers and one election official, police said.

A rocket was fired at another polling station in Kokernag, also in the Anantnag district, but there were no casualties.

Officials put the poll turnout from the first two rounds of voting at around 40 percent -- a figure disputed by Kashmiri nationalists who have called for a boycott and vowed to disrupt the election.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee Monday hailed the election as a turning point on the road to peace
The Kashmir dispute is at the core of a nine-month-old military standoff between India and Pakistan which came close to a fourth war in June.

India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring guerrillas fighting New Delhi's rule in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad rejects.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Indian Central Reserve Police Force soldier keeps watch over an empty street in the Kashmiri town of Anantnag during voting for the third phase of assembly elections in the troubled northern Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir on Oct. 1, 2002. Nearly 450,000 personnel of various Indian security agencies are on guard to prevent violence during the elections. (Kamal Kishore/Reuters)