Kashmir elections continue amid growing tension, Hannah Cooper

Hannah Cooper — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:19:30 +0000

Two anti-election protestors were killed in Baramulla in Kashmir by police on Saturday in clashes which also wounded about twenty others, as tensions heightened over the election boycott. Amongst the dead was a 16-year-old boy. On Sunday, protests continued during the voting for the second stage of a seven-stage election process and, along with a curfew in the capital Srinagar and other large towns, troops were on high alert with boycotters throwing rocks at polling stations and clashing with the authorities.Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.

Sign up to receive toD's daily security briefings via email by clicking here

The toD verdict: Many separatist politicians have called for a boycott of the current state elections in Kashmir because they say that these elections legitimise and further strengthen Indian control of the region. Earlier this year, 42 people were killed during a demonstration calling for independence after 60 years of Indian control of the region and following the imposition of federal rule over Kashmir in July due to a land dispute that brought down the state government.

Media reports suggest that the government has issued instructions to troops to refuse journalists access to the polling stations, and sources have reported violence against journalists attempting to cover the events on the ground.

Senior officials insisted that "by and large voting was peaceful." Over fifty percent of registered voters cast their ballots on Sunday, down slightly from the sixty percent turnout registered during the first round which took place last week. The elections for the state legislature, which constitute the third vote in the state since the beginning of the insurgency in 1989, started on 17 November and will finish on 24 December, with the final count on 28 December.

Gang members behead inmates in Guatemala

A fight between inmates in a Guatemalan prison resulted in five deaths by beheading and two other fatalities on Saturday. The hostilities were reportedly between the members of rival gangs and were sparked when prisoners were transferred to Pavoncito prison in the town of Fraijanes on Friday from another prison. Pavoncito prison mostly houses convicts with sentences for drug trafficking, murder and robbery. Authorities reported that they had the situation under control once more by Saturday afternoon, but it is likely that this will not be the last of such disputes in a Guatemalan prison, where overcrowding often sparks conflict. Coordinated riots in 2005 swept through seven prisons across the country and resulted in 31 deaths.

Violence on the streets of Egypt

Street battles and protests took place in Egypt over the weekend, resulting in the death of one person due to tear gas inhalation, while four policemen were injured by thrown stones and bottles. The fighting erupted between Muslims and Christians, after Muslim protesters opposed Christian attempts to convert a building in Aswan into a church. Just the day before and in the same part of the country, riot police clashed with demonstrators who were protesting against the fatal shooting of a bird-seller after he was mistaken for a drug dealer and accidentally killed. Four of the demonstrators were injured. At the man's funeral on Sunday, attended by thousands, chants of: "Illegitimate government, unjust government" could be heard.

Birmingham-born terror plotter reported dead

Rashid Rauf, a Birmingham-born man implicated in the 2006 "Airline terror plot", was reportedly killed on Saturday when a missile hit a tribesman's house during an American missile strike. Rauf was thought to have close links to al-Qaida in the restive area of North Waziristan, where he was allegedly killed along with at least four other insurgents. Rauf has been a fugitive since 2006 after escaping from custody in Pakistan where a court had already dismissed terrorist charges against him. Rauf's lawyer maintains that his client had only ever had links with the non-violent and legal group Tablighi Jamaat. The death has still not been independently verified, with one intelligence officer only able to say that "he was probably killed".

US attacks on Pakistani soil such as this one have been increasing in the past months, provoking the ire of both the Pakistani government and insurgents. Questions have also arisen over whether this incident constitutes an extra-judicial killing, which could be a serious accusation if British security agencies were involved in intelligence-gathering.

Anti-government protestors battle on in Thai capital

Sunday saw the assembly of thousands of protestors in Bangkok to continue the call for the dissolution of the government. The demonstration at Government House was attended by, amongst others, members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) which claims that Somchai is just a proxy leader for Thaksin Shinawatra, his brother-in-law and ex-prime minister. Soldiers and police were told to use peaceful means to control the demonstration, after a similar event on 7 October left two people dead and over five hundred wounded.

Eighteen people, mostly women, killed in Baghdad

Two bombs that went off in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad during rush hour on Monday morning killed at least 18 people. One attack saw the death of 13 people after a roadside bomb blew up a minibus carrying government employees, thought to all be female civil servants working for the trade ministry. Shortly after this, a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside the city's Green Zone.

Average rating

(0 votes)

open Democracy News Analysis - Kashmir elections continue amid growing tension, Hannah Cooper - Comments

Kashmir elections continue amid growing tension, Hannah Cooper