ANANTNAG, 7 February 2005 — With four major towns in the south Kashmir having already returned unopposed representatives, the overall poll percentage in yesterday’s incident-free civic polls in the two districts of Anantnag and Pulwama was 44 percent.

It may be mentioned here that municipal committees of Pampore, Khrew, Awantipore, Tral and parts of Shopian, Pulwama, Bijbehara and Anantnag have returned unopposed representatives while some wards in the two districts went without a contest as no nomination papers were filed by anyone.

“The militants had issued threats to the candidates in several parts of south Kashmir and that is the reason there was no contest,” said a police officer here.

Barring this town where the poll percentage was 23.52 percent, brisk polling was reported from other areas of the two districts where contests were held.

Braving ice cold winds many people in Qazigund, Dooru, Kulgam and in Pulwama came out yesterday morning to cast their votes.

“See I came early today to vote as this town has been totally neglected by the administration. We are voting to elect our local representative who will hopefully do something to improve civic facilities in Anantnag town,” said Bashir Ahmad.

The authorities had made unprecedented security arrangements in the twin district of Anantnag and Pulwama for peaceful polling yesterday. Paramilitary forces and local police in strength were deployed in the major towns to maintain law and order.

“It was a peaceful day and voters in good numbers in both districts came out without any fear to exercise their franchise. The overall poll percentage in south Kashmir is 44 percent,” said a senior police officer in Srinagar.

Another resident said that he hopes the government will provide funds to the elected representatives so that they can do something for their respective localities.

Being seen as the traditional strongholds of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) both the south Kashmir districts are hot favorites of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who also belongs to Bijbehara town.

“We hope our party will take majority of the seats today. South Kashmir continues to be the bastion of the ruling PDP and Mufti Sahib has a strong following here,” said Mohammad Sultan a PDP worker.

Most of the 17 assembly seats that the ruling PDP has in the 87-member state legislative assembly belong to these two south Kashmir districts.

It must be recalled that the civic polls are being held in the Jammu and Kashmir state after a lapse of 27 years and because of the hypersensitive categorization of the polling booths, the poll is being held in four phases to keep sufficient security available.

Polling for the border districts of Baramulla and Kupwara was held on Jan. 29 while Srinagar and Jammu Municipal Corporation elections were organized on Feb. 1.

The last phase of the civic polls is being held on Feb. 10.

Bus Falls Into Ravine in Kashmir, 30 Killed, 33 Injured

Reuter adds: An overcrowded bus skidded off a mountain road and crashed into a ravine in Kashmir yesterday, killing at least 30 passengers and injuring 33, police said.

“The bus was very crowded and the road was slippery due to rain. It rolled nearly 150 feet (46 meters) down into the gorge,” a police official told Reuters in Jammu, the winter capital of the revolt-racked Himalayan region.

Officials said a number of the injured were in serious condition.

Police said the bus was on its way from Udhampur town, 65 kilometers (40 miles) east of Jammu, to a remote village when it left the road while trying to negotiate a sharp bend.

“Local people are helping in extricating bodies from the mangled wreckage of the bus,” the police officer said, adding that rain was hampering rescue operations.

Police said they had called in a crane to lift the wreckage of the bus.

In December, 24 people were killed when a bus plunged into a river while negotiating a curve in the northern Indian hill state of Uttaranchal, underscoring the lack of safety on Indian roads, especially in mountainous areas.