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SRINAGAR, Sept 22: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has called for a boycott of Tuesday’s second round of voting in elections to occupied Kashmir’s assembly and also a day-long strike the same day.
The APHC on Sunday urged all Kashmiris to stay at home when three districts, including Srinagar, hold voting for the 87-member legislature.
“By observing the strike, the people of (held) Kashmir would like to make it clear that they are not for elections but for a final settlement to the dispute,” the alliance of two dozen parties said in a statement.
“By holding such elections, India cannot mislead the world community,” it said.
The Hurriyat had called last week for a full boycott of the election, after initially saying only that it would not participate in the polls.
A lawyers’ group, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, has also called for a strike on Tuesday.
Five districts went to the polls last Monday in the first of four rounds of voting.
OFFICES RAIDED: Police raided the offices of several Kashmiri groups on Sunday and made some arrests.
Police raided the offices of at least four groups — the Muslim League, Islamic Students League, Mass Movement and Peoples League — in Srinagar, and arrested a handful of activists.
The offices raided are all located near the headquarters of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), in Raj Bagh quarter of Srinagar. However, police did not enter the Hurriyat office.
Police declined to comment on the raids, but a senior police official had said last Monday that there would be some “preventive arrests” of people trying to disrupt the voting.
Srinagar district, along with Budgam and held Jammu, are going to vote on Tuesday.
The four groups raided Sunday are all members of the APHC. Security around Srinagar has been beefed up for Tuesday’s polling amid a surge of violence.—AFP
