[Reader-list] 2 anti-election protesters shot in Indian Kashmir

[Khurram Parvez]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/22/asia/AS-Kashmir-Elections.php
International Herald Tribune

2 anti-election
protesters shot in Indian Kashmir 

The Associated Press


Published: November 22, 2008







 


SRINAGAR, India: Government soldiers
opened fire on hundreds of stone-throwing Muslims protesting against elections
in Indian Kashmir on Saturday, killing two people and seriously wounding
another, police said. 

Chanting "No election, no selection, we want freedom," the
protesters took to the streets in Baramulla town and hurled rocks at police and
paramilitary soldiers, a local police officer said. 

Many Muslims who want Kashmir to be an independent state or joined with
Pakistan oppose the elections, arguing they will only entrench India's hold on
the troubled Himalayan region. 

The elections follow some of the worst protests against Indian rule in Jammu-Kashmir,
the country's only Muslim-majority state, in two decades. They were met with a
tough crackdown by government forces, and at least 48 people were killed. 

On Saturday, security guards for a candidate opened fire on protesters who
were throwing rocks at their motorcade, said the police officer, who spoke on
condition of anonymity in line with department policy. 





One
protester, 15-year-old Manzoor Ahmed, was killed when he was shot in the chest,
the officer added. 

After
the shooting, hundreds of other demonstrators poured into the streets and
police opened fire, the official said. Another protester was killed and one was
critically injured in the ensuing melee, he said. 

The
latest violence comes a day ahead of the second phase of the state elections in
Jammu-Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state. 

The
elections started Monday and are being staggered to allow the government to
deploy thousands of forces to each area when it votes in an attempt to prevent
a repeat of violence during elections in 2002. Dozens died during
those polls. 

Baramulla
is 35 miles (55 kilometers) west of Srinagar, the main city in
Indian-controlled Kashmir, and is scheduled to vote on Dec. 7. 

More
than 30 leaders who called for a boycott of the polls have been detained in
recent days under a law that allows police to hold people for up to two years
without trial. 

Militant
separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 to end Indian rule. The
uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown have killed about 68,000 people, most
of them civilians. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both claim
the region in its entirety.