SRINAGAR, 4 February 2005 — Six people were hurt and four separatists detained yesterday when police broke up a protest against local elections in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir, police and witnesses said.

The violence came a day ahead of a visit to Kashmir by India’s new army chief who has vowed to win “hearts and minds” in the restive state where a deadly insurgency against New Delhi’s rule has raged for 15 years.

Gen. Joginder Jaswant Singh, the first Sikh army chief, will arrive in Kashmir today on his first visit to any state since taking charge this week.

Human rights groups accuse the army of abuses in Kashmir while authorities say they probe every complaint and punish those found guilty.

Witnesses said police baton-charged scores of protesters, led by senior separatist leaders Yasin Malik and Shabir Shah, in the southern Kashmir town of Khannabal.

Shah, Malik and two other separatist leaders were detained along with a few supporters as a precautionary measure, a police official said in Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital.

Witnesses said they were badly beaten by police, who denied the claim.

Hospital sources said six people were treated for minor injuries.

Police shifted Malik whose Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front seeks the independence of Kashmir, at the heart of hostility between India and Pakistan, after he fell unconcious briefly, a doctor said.

Malik, a former rebel commander, who is considered a moderate separatist, wears a pacemaker and has undergone head and heart surgery in the past.

Altaf Ahmed, a spokesman for Malik’s group, said the leader was “denied medical attention for hours. If anything happens to him, the government will be held responsible.”

Separatist politicians and rebel groups have called on voters to shun the elections, the first after over a quarter century gap, saying the polls are no substitute for the right to self-determination.

Rebels bombed rallies and killed candidates and party workers during the campaign for the elections, which are being held in three stages.

But the elections ordered by the People’s Democratic Party-led state government, have drawn reasonable turnouts so far, election officials say.

Local elections have not been held in Kashmir for the past 27 years, partly because of the insurgency but also due to fears of the previous ruling National Conference of the creation of a rival power base.