Srinagar: In a surprise twist to Kashmirs ongoing poll-related upheaval, angry youth in Baramulla Thursday roughed up many locals who had defied the boycott movement, which the youth had enforced in Baramulla were the polling was held on Wednesday.
Eyewitnesses and reports said that the youth at the volatile Old Town Baramulla and Sopore Bus Stand Thursday took to streets and stopped vehicles entering the town from remote areas like Uri, Kupwara and other places. They would, the reports suggest, check index fingers of the passengers and whoever bore the indelible ink mark was subjected to beating and ridicule.
Those who had blue ink mark on their index finger were thrashed and many others who tried to intervene were also thrashed, GNS quoted an unnamed eyewitness as said. Quoting another eyewitness from Sopore the news agency reported : The windowpanes of around ten vehicles of Kupwara were smashed by youth and people who had cast vote were thrashed in Bus Stand and Iqbal Market.
The vehicles from Uri which recorded 65.42 percent polling pass through Baramulla town while the vehicles from Kupwara district which recorded 69.29 percent polling move through Sopore. While the authorities had not set up any polling in Old Town Baramlla for fear of violence, little over one percent voting was recorded in Sopore.
Scores of people coming from Rafiabad, Khadniyar and Handwara were stalked by different groups of young boys at Cement Bridge Baramulla, Azad Gunj and Tawheed Gunj. They were thrashed and abused, another eyewitness said adding index fingers of many women were also checked.
The Deputy Inspector General of Police North Range, Ghulam Hassan Bhat confirmed that a vehicle from Kupwara was stopped at Sopore and the agitated youth checked fingers of passengers. After checking the vehicle, they thrashed some of the commuters. But the police reached on the spot and chased the offenders away, the police officers said.
He said that another incident was reported from Azad Gunj area of Baramulla but no one was thrashed. But we controlled the situation and everything is alright now, he added.
Majority of youth at Sopore and Baramullas Old Town are stiff opponents of pro-election mainstream politics. The authorities had shifted polling stations during Lok Sabha polls from Old Town due to security concerns. Both towns adhered to boycott call of pro-freedom leadership and held anti-election protests.
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