The first elections in the Indian region of Kashmir since it saw its autonomy removed last year began on Saturday under tight security surveillance.
Fearing attacks by separatist fighters in this disputed region between India and Pakistan, authorities deployed dozens of police and paramilitary forces armed with machine guns outside each polling station, while the army patrolled the streets. .
Between the fear of attacks, the coronavirus epidemic and the snow which covers much of this region of the Himalayas, voters were few on Saturday to go to the polls, observers observed. Voting takes place over an eight-day period by Dec. 19, with ballot counting expected to begin three days later.
Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, polling stations are equipped with thermometers, and each voter is distributed a mask and hydroalcoholic gel.
In the Kashmir valley, Faizi, a 70-year-old voter, told AFP as she left the polling station that she had voted “for those who work for development, such as paving the roads for us”.
Indian Kashmir has been under tight security surveillance since India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) revoked its semi-autonomous status and placed it directly under the authority of the national government in August 2019.
This does not prevent the attacks of the separatists. Two soldiers were killed in an ambush Thursday in Srinagar, the main town in the region. And in mid-November, border clashes between Indian and Pakistani forces had left 13 dead.
The local councils which are going to be elected no longer have much power, but several political parties took advantage of this election to unite and campaign for the restoration of political autonomy in the region.
This alliance accused the government of harassment vis-à-vis its candidates. On Friday, the leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDOP), Mehbooba Mufti, was under house arrest at her home and the police prevented journalists from attending the press conference she had called.
Ms. Mufti is one of many opposition political figures who had been under house arrest for months after the revocation of autonomy.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their separation at the time of independence in 1947, and each claims the entire territory.
In the Indian part, groups of independence fighters, which India accuses Pakistan of supporting, have been fighting Indian forces since 1989, and these fighting have left tens of thousands of people dead, mostly civilians.