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'Postpone Anantnag bypolls,' PDP appeals to EC after Srinagar violence; schools set ablaze

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's brother Tassaduq Hussain appeals Election Commission to postpone the Anantnag bypoll.

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Kashmiri demonstrators (C) throw stones towards Indian policemen during a protest against by-polls in Srinagar April 9, 2017.
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A day after violence in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's brother who is contesting the election has appealed the Election Commission to postpone the Anantnag bypoll.  

At least eight people were killed and scores were wounded in violence during the by-poll for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat which saw the voter turnout plunge to an all-time low of 7.14 per cent.

Bypolls in Anantnag are scheduled to be held on Wednesday, April 12.

"Bypolls in Anantnag should be postponed," said PDP leader and Mehbooba Mufti's brother Tassaduq Hussain.

Also, in a latest development, government schools designated as polling booths ahead of the Anantnag bypolls was set on fire. The incident took place in Pulwama and Shopian's Padarpora.

However, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that Tassaduq's statement was an indictment of his sister's government.

On Sunday, rampaging mobs took to streets in scores of places across the Lok Sabha constituency straddling Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts, perpetrating wanton violence and arson, even setting ablaze a polling station and attempting to set on fire two others, amid a boycott called by the separatists.

Meanwhile, separatists have called for a two-day shutdown against the killing of civilians in firing by security forces, saying it was the only way for them to express solidarity with the families of those killed and the cause for which they laid down their lives.

"We know hartal would not affect government policy towards us but it is the only option to express our collective grief," separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mohammad Yasin Malik said in a joint statement​

Security remains tight and the Valley has been turned into a fortress. Booths have been provided maximum security, with hundreds of troopers deployed at colleges and schools where voting will be held.

Following the escalation of violence on Sunday, internet services were suspended in entire Kashmir Valley.

Apart from this, all Kashmir University exams scheduled to be held upto the Anatanag bypolls have been postponed.

(With agency inputs)

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