Police detain hundreds in Indian Kashmir before vote

Police say crackdown took place in Srinagar to ensure peaceful and violence-free polling.

SRINAGAR: Police in Indian Kashmir have detained more than 500 residents as well as separatist leaders before the latest round of voting in the restive region, officers and separatists said Tuesday.

Police said the crackdown took place in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar and throughout the constituency that votes on April 30 as part of the country's continuing staggered six-week general election.

"To ensure peaceful and violence-free polling in Central Kashmir, police has been taking preventive measures and arrested around 400 stone pelters and trouble mongers," a police statement said.

"Nobody will be allowed to disrupt the electoral process. The arrests have been made and will continue to be effected to instill confidence among the voters."

In addition, police targeted some 130 residents whom they suspect would lead protests on Wednesday against the polls, arresting them in raids on their homes, a senior officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"About 130 people were arrested since yesterday in Srinagar," the officer said.

The Muslim-majority and volatile Kashmir valley, where a separatist movement against Indian rule is centred, posed a heightened challenge for security forces during previous rounds of polling earlier this month.

Top separatist leaders, who reject the elections as well as Indian rule over Kashmir, have been detained in police stations or confined to their houses, separate statements from two main separatist groupings said.

Voting has been light so far in the valley for the election after a campaign of intimidation by local militant groups, who killed three people last week and warned locals not to take part.

Police faced stone-throwing protesters in the southern Kashmir valley during voting on April 24. They used tear gas and batons to disperse crowds protesting against the poll.

About a dozen rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 either for independence or for the merger of the territory with Pakistan.

The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.