Empty streets and downed shutters. The only signs of life are tense securitymen and a few village elders assembled at streetcorners. A night before the third phase of J-K polls, fear has gripped South Kashmir. The threat of a militant strike is real. Late this evening, a grenade was hurled in the main Awantipore market on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, injuring two villagers. Police said the securitymen who were targeted. Last night, militants fired rockets at a security force camp in Satoora, Tral, injuring one. An area with a massive Jaish and Hizbul presence, Tral’s main contestant is a doctor on the NC ticket. Ghulam Nabi Bhat has lost his father and two brothers to militants’ bullets, one just two months ago. In the neighbouring Pampore constituency, militants used grenade guns to attack a polling booth at the Girls School injuring a polling officer, a driver and conductor and a security man. Pampore is expecting a close contest between the Congress and the PDP. The Kulgam constituency too is on the edge. A senior police officer said that Lashkar has increased its activities here as it’s on one of the major infiltration routes: the Bramsar-Shersar area and Peer ki gali-Chor ki gali passes. The security establishment is prepared. ‘‘South Kashmir is different from other areas. There is a heavy militant presence and the psyche of people is altogether different,’’ said Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir, M.A. Anjum. ‘‘We have devised a three-tier security arrangement for the polling day.’’ He said the Army and the BSF would send road-opening parties, conduct patrolling and ‘‘sanitise’’ the areas. ‘‘There are around 3,000 central paramilitary personnel who will take care of security at booths.’’ Besides, Anjum said, the local police is also chipping in for frisking and other duties. Anjum is worried especially about the upper reaches of Noorabad, where J-K Tourism Minister Sakina Ittoo was attacked four times in a fortnight. ‘‘Around 90 per cent of Noorabad booths are hyper sensitive,’’ Anjum said. ‘‘The areas in the foothills of Pir Panjal range—the upper reaches of Shopian, Dooru and Chattergul in Kokernag, Sirigufwara Kheram in Bijbehara and interiors of Wachi are volatile,’’ he said. On the highway that divides the standing rice crop near Bijbehara in Anantnag, streets are empty and the main market closed at 3 pm. ‘‘The market was shut down at around 2 pm. Everybody wants to play safe,’’ says 22-year-old Irshad Ahmad. In the heart of Anantnag at Lal Chowk, a few shopkeepers are wrapping things up. Tension is visible and there is hardly anybody except securitymen. Abdul Rehman Bhat, a cloth merchant, says: ‘‘There won’t be much turnout as nobody wants to risk his life. If we vote we are in trouble, if we don’t we are still in trouble,’’ he said.
