Just 6 votes polled in Afzal Guru’s village in Jammu and Kashmir

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Dec 10, 2014: An eerie silence prevailed in Afzal Guru’s Jageer Ghat vilage in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore district on Tuesday with reports saying only six people voted in the Assembly elections. Guru, convicted in 2003 Parliament attack case, was hanged secretly in New Delhi’s Tihar jail on February 9 last year.

Of the 468 voters in the village, only six were polled till the closing hours of the elections. The deserted polling station in the village reflected the boycott mood in the village heavily guarded by paramilitary forces for the elections.

With not many posters of various political parties visible, a Hurriyat Conference poster urging people to boycott the polls could be noticed on the gate of a polling station. The poster had photographs of Afzal Guru and Muhammad Maqbool Bhat, who was also hanged in Tihar Jail in 1984.

The village on the banks of Jhelum is known for its traditional boycott of elections "as a tribute to those including Afzal Guru who sacrificed their lives for Kashmir’s freedom". "Election is a futile exercise for me and my family," Guru’s wife, Tabasum Guru, told a newspaper.

Guru’s hanging had triggered massive protests across the Valley, with the state government imposing curfew for days together.

Courtesy: Indiatoday