More than 600 Kashmiri residents have been detained ahead of voting in a general election in Indian-controlled parts of the disputed Himalayan region, police said Tuesday.
In a crackdown on suspected separatists, the arrests were made over the past five days by Indian police and paramilitary officers, the Associated Press reported.
The effort is being made in order to prevent any anti-India protests or violence that might erupt during Wednesday's voting, police Director-General Ashok Prasad said.
Six members of India's 543-seat Parliament are elected from Indian Kashmir. Voting will be carried out during several days in the restive region for the security forces to better guard the polls.
According to the AP, results are expected to be out on May 16.
Last Thursday, a polling official was gunned down and at least three soldiers were wounded by suspected rebels. Following the incident, thousands protested during voting, police said.
Kashmiris have been urged to boycott the election by rebels and separatist politicians after the detainment, which they call a "military exercise" by an overbearing New Delhi.
Police described those arrested as "stone pelters and trouble mongers," vowing that "nobody will be allowed to disrupt the electoral process," according to a statement late Monday.
According to the AP, separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani, who was placed under house arrest, accused the Indian government of creating an "environment of fear and panic among the common people ... so that people will get terrified and be forced to participate in this election drama."
The raids and arrests make the election "merely a military operation and a one-sided game," he said in a statement.
Competing claims by India and Pakistan over Kashmir has wracked it for decades. The territory has been divided into regions administered separately by the neighboring countries.
"Kashmiri separatists demand either independence from Hindu-majority India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan. About 68,000 people have been killed since 1989 in an armed uprising and Indian military crackdown. While the armed rebellion has largely been suppressed, anti-India resentment still runs deep," the AP reported.
