Indian troops killed three suspected rebels during a gunbattle Saturday in the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, while police blamed insurgents for killing three other men during a day of violence and protests in the disputed region.
Kashmiri men inspect a house, damaged during a gun battle, where suspected rebels were holed up, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Counterinsurgency police and paramilitary soldiers staged a morning raid on a cluster of homes in a densely populated neighborhood of Srinagar after getting a tip that militants were hiding there, police said. Troops asked the trapped militants to surrender but they instead started shooting and sparked a gunbattle, police said.
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Indian troops killed three suspected rebels during a gunbattle Saturday in the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, while police blamed insurgents for killing three other men during a day of violence and protests in the disputed region.
Counterinsurgency police and paramilitary soldiers staged a morning raid on a cluster of homes in a densely populated neighborhood of Srinagar after getting a tip that militants were hiding there, police said. Troops asked the trapped militants to surrender but they instead started shooting and sparked a gunbattle, police said.
As the militants and government troops exchanged gunfire, anti-India protests and clashes erupted in several places. Hundreds of demonstrators tried to reach the site of the standoff and threw rocks at troops in a bid to help the rebels escape.
Police and paramilitary soldiers fired shotgun pellets and tear gas to stop the protesters, and at least one protester was run over and killed by a police armored vehicle. As the anti-India protests and clashes spiraled, shops in the city shuttered and authorities switched off mobile internet services to make organizing protests more difficult.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim it in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989, demanding Indian-controlled Kashmir be made part of Pakistan or become an independent country.
During Saturday's fierce confrontation, demonstrators chanted pro-rebel slogans such as "Go India, go back" and "We want freedom." Police said they were investigating the death of the man killed in what they called a "road accident."
"How a murder was committed by the forces today and then brazenly denied! Is there no sense of humanity left in India?" Farooq wrote on Twitter, as he also uploaded a video which shows an armored vehicle knocking down a youth.
S.P. Vaid, police director-general, told reporters that Saturday's operation that killed the three militants was a "clean" one. The armed confrontation was the first this year in the heart of Srinagar.
An Indian paramilitary soldier aims his sling at Kashmiri protesters near the site of a gun battle in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
As the militants and government troops exchanged gunfire, anti-India protests and clashes erupted in several places. Hundreds of demonstrators tried to reach the site of the standoff and threw rocks at troops in a bid to help the rebels escape.
Kashmiri men inspect a house, damaged during a gun battle, where suspected rebels were holed up, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Police and paramilitary soldiers fired shotgun pellets and tear gas to stop the protesters, and at least one protester was run over and killed by a police armored vehicle. As the anti-India protests and clashes spiraled, shops in the city shuttered and authorities switched off mobile internet services to make organizing protests more difficult.
A Kashmiri protester shouts freedom slogans amid tear gas smoke fired by Indian paramilitary soldier near the site of a gun battle in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim it in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989, demanding Indian-controlled Kashmir be made part of Pakistan or become an independent country.
Most Kashmiris support the rebels' cause while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control. In recent years, mainly young Kashmiris have displayed open solidarity with rebels and sought to protect them by engaging troops in street clashes during military operations. Last year, at least 29 civilians were killed and hundreds were wounded during such clashes.
Kashmiri protesters throw rocks and bricks at Indian paramilitary soldiers near the site of a gun battle in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
During Saturday's fierce confrontation, demonstrators chanted pro-rebel slogans such as "Go India, go back" and "We want freedom." Police said they were investigating the death of the man killed in what they called a "road accident."
Top separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq called the young man's death a murder and he and others called for a general strike on Sunday in protest of the day's killings.
A vehicle belonging to Indian police is engulfed in tear gas smoke fired to prevent Kashmiri protesters from approaching it, near the site of a gun battle in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
"How a murder was committed by the forces today and then brazenly denied! Is there no sense of humanity left in India?" Farooq wrote on Twitter, as he also uploaded a video which shows an armored vehicle knocking down a youth.
Injuries were reported to at least two protesters, three journalists, three soldiers and a police officer.
Kashmiri protesters throw rocks and bricks at Indian paramilitary soldiers near the site of a gun battle in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
S.P. Vaid, police director-general, told reporters that Saturday's operation that killed the three militants was a "clean" one. The armed confrontation was the first this year in the heart of Srinagar.
Later Saturday, thousands in Srinagar participated in the funerals of a slain rebel and the civilian. While the civilian was buried in his neighborhood graveyard, thousands marched while carrying the rebel's body to Srinagar's main martyr's graveyard, where hundreds of Kashmiri militants and civilians killed in decades of fighting have been buried.
Meanwhile, gunmen abducted two men from their homes in northern Hajin town late Friday. Their bodies, riddled with bullets, were recovered early Saturday.
Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard near the site of a gun battle in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Gunmen also entered a civilian home in Sopore area and sprayed bullets at the residents, police said, leading to the death of a young man. His wife was critically wounded.
Police accused militants of carrying out these killings, though no rebel group has claimed responsibility.
Kashmiris make no secret of their fury at killings by government forces, which regularly trigger bloody protests and demands for freedom from Indian rule. But the reactions are far more complicated, tangled in fear and loyalty when residents accused of being informers are targeted.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians began voting Friday in the second round of multi-phase national elections as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to galvanize voters with his assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics.
People lined up outside polling stations as voting opened at 7 a.m. Turnout was expected to pick up as the day progresses.
The outcome of Friday’s voting will be crucial for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as the 88 constituencies up for grabs across 13 states include some of its strongholds in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Most polls predict a win for Modi and the BJP, which is up against a broad opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress and powerful regional parties.
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi is running in Wayanad constituency in southern Kerala state for a second time, after he was defeated in 2019 elections by Smriti Irani, a BJP leader, in the northern Indian city of Amethi — a traditional stronghold for the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Other prominent candidates in the second phase of voting include Shashi Tharoor of the Congress party, popular BJP Bollywood star Hema Malini and actor Arun Govil, who played the role of Hinduism's revered Lord Ram in a 1987 television adaptation of the ancient epic Ramayana.
Prime Minister Modi urged people to vote in record numbers to strengthen democracy.
“I especially urge our young voters and women voters to turn out in great numbers. Your vote is your voice!” Modi said in a message on the social media platform X.
The BJP has already won one parliamentary seat from Surat in Gujarat state, where the Congress party candidate was disqualified Monday. Election officials said they found discrepancies in the signatures on the nomination and other candidates pulled out of the contest, leaving BJP nominee Mukesh Dalal as the winner by default.
Nearly 970 million voters — more than 10% of the world’s population — will elect 543 members to the lower house of Parliament for five years during the staggered election, which runs until June 1. The votes will be counted on June 4. There are a total of 28 states in India.
The turnout of the first phase of polling on April 19 was estimated around 62% of 166.3 million eligible voters. About 160 million are eligible to vote in the second phase.
By comparison, India’s 2019 national election registered the highest-ever voter turnout — 67.11% — in the history of Indian parliamentary elections. The turnout is expected to increase for five more rounds of voting.
Voters’ relative apathy has surprised some political analysts, but they say that the BJP remains a front-runner.
"You could argue that the listlessness is a consequence of a foregone conclusion,” said Pratap Bhanu Mehta, an Indian political scientist.
"But for Modi’s party which is expecting to win 400 of the 543 seats the joyous surge is missing," he said in an article in the Indian Express daily.
Critics of the prime minister, an avowed Hindu nationalist, say India’s tradition of diversity and secularism has come under attack since the BPJ won power a decade ago. They accuse the party of fostering religious intolerance and sometimes even violence. The party denies the accusation and says its policies benefit all Indians.
Modi stirred a huge controversy over the weekend when he said that the Congress party, if voted to power, would distribute the country’s wealth among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children,” in an apparent reference to the Muslim community.
Hindus make up 80% of India's 1.4 billion people, while Muslims account for 14% and Christians and Sikhs 2% each.
The Congress party leaders met with election officials and urged them to investigate whether Modi’s comments violated the body’s code of conduct that bars politicians from appealing to voters based on caste and religious feelings.
The BJP also filed a complaint against Congress's Gandhi, accusing the opposition leader of falsely asserting that poverty was increasing and driving a wedge between the North and South of India based on language and region in order to disrupt the electoral environment.
The election authority recognized the complaints on Thursday and asked the presidents of the two parties to file their responses by Monday. The authority is expected to give its ruling next week.
People queue up to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
People check for their names in the voters' list as they arrive to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election in Nahal village near Meerut, in Uttar Pradesh, India, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A voter shows her identity papers and signs her name in the polling register before casting her vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Tangkhul Nagas stand in a queue to cast their votes in Shangshak village, in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Yirmiyan Arthur)
An elderly woman arrives at a polling station to cast her vote in Shangshak village, in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Yirmiyan Arthur)
A woman waits to cast her vote at a polling booth during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A man shows his identity papers to a polling official as people queue up to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A security personnel stands guard as people queue up to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election in Nahal village near Meerut, in Uttar Pradesh, India, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
People queue up to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A man squats to rest as people queue up to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
People queue up to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week long national election outside a polling booth in Kochi, southern Kerala state, India, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/R S Iyer)
People queue up to vote behind a statue of the Hindu goddess of learning, Saraswati, during the second round of voting in the six-week long national election outside a polling booth in Kochi, southern Kerala state, India, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/R S Iyer)
People queue up to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A policeman stands guard as people queue up to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week long national election outside a polling booth in Kochi, southern Kerala state, India, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/R S Iyer)
Elderly voters sit as others stand in a queue to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
People stand in a queue to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election in Nahal village near Meerut, in Uttar Pradesh, India, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A man shows his voter's identity card as he queues up with others to vote during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election near Palakkad, in Indian southern state of Kerala, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
