November 15, 2008	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 16, 1429

SRINAGAR, Nov 14: Indian authorities on Friday deployed thousands of troops to prevent a rally by Kashmiris opposed to a multi-phase election starting on Monday.

The deployment came as Srinagar and other parts of the Muslim-majority valley witnessed heavy snowfall that cut power and telephone lines, and closed road links to villages and towns. A strike saw shops and businesses in Srinagar closed.

“Police and paramilitary forces were deployed to prevent a separatist rally in Srinagar,” a police officer said.

People awoke on Friday morning to tight security with police manning streets and preventing residents from moving out.

“We are not being allowed to come out of our houses even to clear the accumulating snow,” said a resident Farooq Dar.

“It is not even remotely possible to hold a rally under such (weather) conditions but still we are being held in our houses,” he said.

Top leaders have already been sent to jail for the elections, which will be held in seven phases. Kashmiri leaders oppose the elections and have called for a boycott, arguing they strengthen New Delhi’s occupation over the disputed region.

All eyes will be on the Kashmir valley, where police killed at least 42 people this year when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets shouting ‘Azadi’.

The People’s Democratic Party took power at the head of a coalition following the last election in 2002, ending a two-decade rule by the National Conference. But now the region is under direct rule by New Delhi after violent protests.

It will be the third vote in occupied Kashmir since the freedom movement began in 1989. In the past, Kashmiris have ambushed and killed scores of candidates and political workers, vandalised polling stations and attacked rallies to thwart elections.

But early this year, the United Jihad Council, a Pakistan-based alliance fighting Indian troops in occupied Kashmir, rejected the use of violence to force a boycott of the elections this time.

Instead, it urged people to hold peaceful protests against the vote.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the region’s main freedom-seeking alliance, says hundreds of its supporters and activists have been arrested ahead of the polls.

“Elections are ultimately projected as a sort of referendum by India,” said Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

“That is why we have called for a complete boycott of such a process.”

“Elections will help elect a government addressing the day-to-day problems of people, not the Kashmir dispute,” said Omar Abdullah, chief of the regional National Conference, which recognises New Delhi’s rule over the region.—AFP/Reuters