Undeterred by a grenade attack, thousands of Kashmiris turned out to vote on Wednesday in by-elections to the state legislature in the disputed state in northern India and despite a boycott called by separatist groups. Suspected militants fired two rifle grenades near a voting station in Pahalgam in southern Kashmir just before it opened, but no one was injured.
| Trained by Hek's boys, no doubt. |
Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syed, who last month escaped an assassination attempt while filing his nomination papers, was contesting from Pahalgam, one of four constituencies where the by-election was taking place in Kashmir. "Polling has been very peaceful in the constituency," police official Barney Fife Abdul Hamid said as soldiers with automatic weapons patrolled the streets in armoured cars and stood guard outside heavily fortified polling booths. Kashmiri terrorists separatists called for a boycott, saying elections in the region could not solve the decades-old conflict that has led to two out of three wars between India and Pakistan.
| "Nope. Nope. Ain't gonna happen. So you can't vote. We'll kill yez if yez do!" |
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