The National Conference is imposed at the polls in Kashmir

New Delhi, December 28 (EFE). - The National Conference of Kashmiri nationalism has made ​​victory in regional elections, whose results were known today, but fell short of an absolute majority and will need support from other forces.
"We have no doubt we will be the biggest party, but we have to see how close we were to the magical barrier of an absolute majority," said this week in an interview with Efe the candidate and party president Omar Abdullah.
Abdullah was right in his prediction: the NFC has won 28 seats, followed by the nationalist Democratic Party with 21, the pan-Indian Congress Party (17) and the radical Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which give a jump to 11 seats.
With the majority located in 45 seats, the only possibility for the winning party, which maintains its 2002 result is agree with any of the other forces, including the Congress Party seems best placed.
"We will talk formally with them tomorrow to form an alliance and tomorrow will come to power in the region," said the press today and Abdullah after learning the results.
The last legislature, held by a partnership of Congress and the Democratic Party, ended this summer so troubled by the crisis of the temple of Amarnath, which led to rioting by Hindus and Muslims.
The Government decided to grant land to an agency for pilgrimages to the Hindu temple, sparking protests among Muslims, a subsequent reversal of the decision, and subsequent demonstrations among the Hindus of Jammu.
This polarization is the reason that analysts cited to explain the dramatic results achieved by the radical Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which happen to have 11 deputies, compared to the only seat won in 2002.
His promotion, exclusively in the Hindu area reveals the existence of a "community vote" (in terms of religion) and the differences between the valley of Kashmir, Muslim and pro-independence stronghold, and the southern Indian areas, of Jammu.
"We have reason to be pleased with the results of Jammu and Kashmir. We have done very well in Jammu and we had our best result. Will play a role of national opposition in the Assembly, "the leader Arun Jaitley said the Indian agency PTI.
The 2008 elections were the least violent of the last two decades in this region of northern India which Pakistan also claims sovereignty, and also counted with a share of 61.5 percent, almost 20 points more than in 2002.
The separatist Hurriyat Conference had urged a boycott of the elections, but follow your call was limited to the Kashmiri capital, Srinagar, where only 20 percent of the electorate exercised their vote.
While Hurriyat has recognized that the results should serve to reflect, their leaders while irregularities reported: cases, mainly of fake voters and votes forced by security forces in rural areas.
India is estimated at 800 insurgents remain active in the region, scene of several wars and disputed and deal with Pakistan after independence and partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
However, in the Kashmiri territory are deployed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and forcefully used by the authorities to frequent curfews to control calls to the strike and protests by separatists.
In a moderate line, the National Conference advocates greater autonomy for the region "on both sides of the border."
"India and Pakistan would be responsible for only three or four things: money, communications, defense and foreign affairs. It is said that borders can not be redesigned, but we can make them irrelevant, "Abdullah told Efe.
The nationalist parties had detached themselves the election of the struggle for independence, and had focused on development proposals, better roads, more schools, after two decades of conflict in this region of ten million people.

Kashmir, life under curfew

Srinagar (India), December 27, 2008. - Back to home before dark, avoid contact with the paramilitaries and to stockpile staples are some informal rules used by the Kashmiris to meet the continuing curfews .
"If half past six I'm not home, my family lives a real drama. Your first thought is you have had any problems with the soldiers, so get calling like crazy, "says Altaf Efe, an economist at Srinagar.
At the heart of Kashmir's summer capital is current setting curfews, enacted by the authorities to deal calls for the strike - "hartaal" - the separatist Hurriyat Conference.
In days of protests or restriction of movement, shops, banks and schools throw the lock and citizens do not leave home, so that the city offers a desolate, only altered by the massive presence of thousands of paramilitaries.
"You have to return soldiers to their barracks. The insurgency has lost a lot and yet, the number of soldiers remains the same. There is no balance, "he complained in an interview with Efe the People's Democratic Party president, Mehbooba Mufti.
According to the Chamber of Commerce, the Valley of Kashmir has been in the past six months one hundred days of curfews formal or informal, which means a daily loss of 14 million.
The center of Srinagar is usually also the scene of demonstrations organized by the separatist Hurriyat Conference, who asked his followers to boycott regional elections recently concluded.
"Kashmir is that explains a dependent-there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers. It is easy to understand: you go out and the first thing you see is a rifle. It's not very nice. "
However, the Kashmiris have come to get used to curfews, as evidenced by the daily cricket matches disputing children, indifferent to the presence of soldiers that lie just a few meters.
Since 1989, tens of thousands have died or disappeared victims of insurgent violence or expedited methods used by security forces.
"Serve this month as an example, Mufti tells. There have been a rape, a girl of 16 years at the hands of a soldier. And in another village a man tried to defend her daughter from the paramilitaries, and two days later found dead. How to accept it? ".
Popular culture is full of stories cashmere sinister about bodies such as the Seventh Battalion and Special Forces, charged with multiple violations of human rights activists from Srinagar.
In his defense, however, the Indian authorities mentioned the need to fight the insurgent groups operating in Kashmir soil and in its violent defiance against the state have not hesitated to attack the civilian population.
Scene of several wars, Kashmir is a territory in dispute and dealt three nuclear powers-India, Pakistan and China, following independence and partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
And besides, your soil has been fodder for a violent insurgent rebellion since 1989, after a fraudulent electoral process that led to the separatists to take up arms against India, with the tacit support of Pakistan.
In recent years, insurgent violence has decreased, are, according to India, 800 rebels, but the Kashmiris continue to use street protests as a way to assert independence and show their anger at the lack of opportunities.
"Here, all say they are fighting on our behalf, but nobody cares. We have twenty years paying the lack of one or the other, and still expect us to vote, "laments a waiter in a hotel, after making sure no one else is listening.
Today there is no curfew, so you can go home.

Regional elections end with less violence in Kashmir

Srinagar (India), Dec. 24 (EFE). - The Indian Kashmir shut your appointment today with a high turnout election in an environment marked by less violence, a massive police presence and a boycott call by separatists that hit the regional capital, Srinagar, though less than in previous elections.
The seventh and final phase of elections held in 21 constituencies today, called for the vote of 1,638,000 Kashmiri of Srinagar and the Hindu-majority southern areas surrounding the winter capital, Jammu, where turnout was high.
There, according to the Indian Election Commission, 68 percent of voters went to the polls, while 20 percent did in Srinagar, where in past elections, also boycotted, voted just 5 percent.
"With these data, the share of the total of the seven phases has been of 61.5 percent, up from 43 percent in 2002," he said at a press conference the head of the Commission, BR Sharma.
The slight fog which ushered in Srinagar woke to a sunny day, although most voters stayed home in an unusual environment for the watchful presence of thousands of troops from the security forces.
The separatist Hurriyat Conference, powerful in the city, had called for a boycott of the elections and had called for a protest march today to be from the central Red Square, but police stopped the device separatist attempt.
"It will be difficult to demonstrate in Red Square. All access is closed. Have controls, blocked everything. It is very clear that the Government does not want the march to take place, "he told Efe on the eve of President Umar Faruq Hurriyat.
In anticipation of incidents, the authorities had already declared Tuesday a curfew in the city, so that the streets deserted of pedestrians and woke up with a very restricted traffic and subject to controls.
At least fourteen people were injured in riots in some districts of the civilian areas of Srinagar, where separatist groups fought the paramilitary strongly guarding the polls.
"I did not vote. We have 700,000 soldiers in our region. Is this what they call elections? Neither Pakistan nor India are interested in solving the conflict cashmere. And who gets the people, "a shopkeeper told Efe affected by the curfew.
Although the campaign has been marked by the development promises of the leading candidates in recent days have also become important tensions between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai attacks in late November.
The India attributed the attacks to the Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, operating from Pakistan, the country with which the dispute-and deals-the territory of Kashmir since independence and partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
"I voted because I want peace. I do not want war. We have 20 years of war have only served to sink and leave us without work, "says an old tour guide in front of the beautiful Dal Lake, the main attraction of the city.
Kashmir has plunged nearly two decades of conflict, and although in recent years the situation had improved, a dispute over ownership of land in summer pilgrimage prompted a wave of protests by Hindus and Muslims that left 40 dead.
That renewed tension raised fears that the elections would mark a return to violence, but according to the Election Commission has just the opposite happened: five civilians have died in this election, compared with 63 who died in 2002.
"This election has surprised many by the high turnout and the absence of violence. There is no fear of reprisals for voting. And people want a solution to their problems of everyday life, "he said in an interview with Efe the candidate of the nationalist National Conference, Omar Abdullah.
According to Hurriyat, however, the high turnout is the result of fraud Kashmiris in rural areas, where he said Faruq, the Indian Army has great power and pushes citizens to the polls.
The Indian Election Commission, which has strongly denied that possibility, plans to have the votes next 28, the wait both the National Conference as the other favorites, the Congress Party and the Democratic Party.

Indian Kashmir morning full process to renew the Regional Assembly

Srinagar (India), December 23, 2008. - With the usual boycott by Muslim separatists, Indian Kashmir goes to the polls tomorrow to renew its regional assembly, after a long election process has coincided with a new crisis between India and Pakistan .
The last of the seven phases they were divided elections are called more than 1,600,000 voters in 21 constituencies, including eleven of the winter capital, Jammu, and eight in the troubled summer capital, Srinagar.
Political leaders were satisfied by the environment "peaceful" campaign, "the best in 20 years", although in recent days there have been clashes between protesters and security forces, and a Hindu radical candidate has been killed in Jammu.
"This campaign has been a surprise to most people for two reasons: the almost total absence of insurgent violence and high voter participation in elections," he told Efe leader training National Conference, Omar Abdullah.
Although so far has had little success the call to boycott separatist Hurriyat group, its leaders have called for a demonstration tomorrow in downtown Srinagar, which is often the scene of heavy fighting and is on high alert.
Anticipating trouble, the authorities said today as a curfew in the city, so that the roads were almost deserted of pedestrians-only citizens with permits can walk, and the traffic was very restricted.
On the road, police identity checks performed every few meters, while thousands of soldiers and paramilitary armed with rifles guard every nook and traders have been quick to take, again, the lock in their establishments.
"We can not continue. Between July and December we had to close 100 days of curfews and the manifestations of radical, "complained Efe president of the Cashmere Chamber of Commerce, Mubeen Shah.
Thus, the central shopping plaza Lal Chowk, the traditional meeting point for the separatists, had only inhabitants today as members of the security forces, holed up with their arms along with several armored vehicles.
"The curfew will run until tomorrow in the city. This is to prevent the insurgents cause problems, "one soldier told Efe nearby.
In Srinagar, the task of security forces is to ensure access to voting population and neutralize the call to "Lal chalo" - "go to Lal (Chowk)" - the followers of the Hurriyat, whose leaders are under arrest.
Outside the city, the authorities have ordered the deployment of 21,000 unique members of security forces in Samba district (two districts) and Jammu, where three suspected terrorists have been arrested, police said today.
Those arrested were three Pakistanis, one soldier in his army, which allegedly belong to the fundamentalist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and planned a suicide attack in Jammu during the vote, said the director general of police, Kuldip Khoda .
Despite the incidents, the head of the Regional Electoral Commission, BR Sharma, told Efe that the level of violence is being "very low" and denied that there have been pressures in the voting, as local rights groups say humans.
The percentage of popular participation in the first six phases has been 63.7 percent, according to Sharma, up over 20 points to the index reached in the 2002 elections, also boycotted by separatists.
The electoral process in Kashmir was marked by tension between India and Pakistan following the attack in late November in Mumbai, the Indian government accused the group Lashkar-e-Toiba, which fights for the annexation of Kashmir to Pakistan India.
The drift of the new bilateral crisis affects in a special way to the region, since the two countries are fighting and divided territory since partition and independence of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. On Kashmir, India and Pakistan have fought two wars already.