Indian Kashmir prepares for violent vote<\/p>\n
Terry Friel
\nand Sheikh Mushtaq
\nReuters
\nSrinagar, India<\/p>\n
Islamic militants ambushed a Kashmiri minister's car on Sunday as
\nthe Indian state appeared set for a violent start to voting in
\nelections that are likely to do little to ease tensions with
\nPakistan.<\/p>\n
Two policemen died in the attack in the southern village of
\nBoh, but Tourism Minister Sakina Itoo was not injured, officials
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The second attempt on Itoo's life comes after Jammu and
\nKashmir state's law minister was shot dead on Wednesday and as
\nviolence mounts ahead of Monday's first round of voting.<\/p>\n
Officials say they expect separatists to launch attacks to
\ndisrupt voting in the disputed region at the heart of a military
\nstand-off that brought India and Pakistan close to war this year.<\/p>\n
India's Border Security Force said it had captured nine
\nmembers of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group overnight
\nin Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital, adding the group
\nplanned to disrupt the poll and attack political workers.<\/p>\n
Four militants died and three polling booths were torched in
\nseparate incidents overnight near the frontier with Pakistan,
\nwhich also saw small arms and mortar fire, officials said.<\/p>\n
The army has intercepted a radio call ordering rebels to seize
\nvoter registration cards, possibly to help them enter polling
\nbooths for an attack, defense sources said.<\/p>\n
More than 440 people have died since the poll was announced in
\nearly August, including almost two dozen party workers.<\/p>\n
India wants a big turnout to bolster the legitimacy of its
\nrule in the mainly Hindu nation's only Muslim-majority state.<\/p>\n
Although analysts expect a better turnout than the 54 percent
\nat the last poll in 1996, many voters are afraid.<\/p>\n
\"There is an atmosphere of terror. We will not vote,\" one man
\nsaid in Surankote, near the border, where 12 people died in a
\nmilitant raid on Wednesday. \"Anything can happen on voting day.\"<\/p>\n
Moderate separatist groups are not contesting the poll and
\nhave urged a boycott. They have called a strike on Monday that is
\nlikely to be observed, as much out of fear as support.<\/p>\n
Pakistan, which India accuses of trying to sabotage the poll,
\nhas dismissed the election as a rigged farce.<\/p>\n
Voting is being staggered over four days in September and
\nOctober. The ruling National Conference party, also part of
\nIndia's Hindu nationalist-led coalition government, is almost
\ncertain to be returned.<\/p>\n
An agreed solution to the Kashmir dispute is critical to peace
\nin South Asia, home to a fifth of the world's people.<\/p>\n
Analysts say a strong voter turnout would boost India's
\nposition, a poor one Pakistan's. Regardless, they say the
\nelection is unlikely to ease tensions.<\/p>\n
\"The viewpoints of both India and Pakistan are so far apart
\nthat I don't think there can be any meeting place so far as the
\nspecific question of elections,\" former Pakistani ambassador to
\nIndia Niaz A. Naik told Reuters in Islamabad.<\/p>\n
\"I think we are reaching a point where there can be no
\ncommunication between the countries and it cannot possibly
\nimprove the atmosphere. The only thing it is going to do is to
\nbadly, adversely affect the atmosphere in South Asia.\"<\/p>",
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