SRINAGAR, Aug 10: Elections slated for occupied Kashmir next month will only bring bloodshed and division and not the peace the Indian government is hoping for, residents of Srinagar warned on Saturday.

Of scores of people interviewed in the bustling streets of Srinagar, only two said they were planning to vote in the legislative poll, slated for Sept 24 in Srinagar and on others days in various parts of the held state.

Most of those interviewed, ranging from walnut sellers and tailors to computer engineers and a street cleaner, said the only vote they would take part in would be a referendum to decide the future of the held state.

“I won’t be voting in these bogus elections,” said bearded educational consultant Sheikh Aslam. “They will be full of violence and will be rigged. Elections in the past have not brought us our freedom.”

Echoing the line of the main kashmiri groups, fabric merchant Sheikh Mohammad Yusuf said he would only vote in a plebiscite in which all Kashmiris determine their future.

“A plebiscite will show that all we want is our independence. We don’t want Pakistan, we don’t want India. Right now we are squashed between them. Just give us our freedom and we will be happy.”

Computer engineer Afaq Bazar, 29, is adamant he will not be voting.

“We have been oppressed for so long by the Indian government, why should we take part in their elections?” he asked. “There will be violence and just further division. We don’t need these polls.”

He himself was detained for four days about two years ago, with the Indian forces alleging he had links with Pakistan-based groups.

“They beat me and tortured me,” an angry Bazar said. “Every day even now they humiliate us Kashmiris by searching our cars — especially if our women are travelling in them. Why should I vote?”

Except for the ruling National Conference (NC), almost all Kashmiri political parties have said that substantive dialogue on the future of Kashmir should precede the elections.

The All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has said it will not take part.

In the last elections, in 1996, the NC romped home after the Mujahideen called a boycott.

In Srinagar, the turnout was a meagre three to five percent, though in other parts of the state it was greater.

While most people interviewed Saturday said they opposed violence, walnut seller Nura Amin said he could at least understand the reasons people had taken up arms against the Indian authorities.

“If they won’t listen to reason, people will find other ways to persuade them to give us our freedom,” said Amin, whose right hand was partly shot away by Indian police in what he claimed was an unprovoked attack on him.

He, too, predicted an upsurge of violence, saying it in fact had already begun.

Storekeeper Mohammad Akbar complains bitterly about the NC and the New Delhi government.

“They have done nothing for us. They just want our votes and then they forget us. People here have no jobs, our roads are poor, the drainage is poor, our education is way behind the rest of the country. They announce financial packages but the money just goes into the pockets of the officials.”

Despite all this, he is still planning to vote for the NC come September 24.

“They do nothing for us, yet I will vote for them. I can’t explain it,” he said.

Street cleaner Habib Khan didn’t even try offer an explanation. “I’m going to vote for the NC,” he said simply.—AFP