Srinagar: A tourist couple from Jaipur was injured in India’s Kashmir after militants opened fire late Saturday night, according to police. This incident occurred just ahead of the voting scheduled in the volatile region for India’s ongoing election.
Kashmir police reported on social media that the injured couple was evacuated to a hospital and that the area where the attack occurred was promptly cordoned off. The tourists are in stable condition, police confirmed.
India is currently in the midst of a marathon election, with the remaining two seats in Kashmir set to go to the polls on May 20 and May 25. On May 13, voters turned out in large numbers for the first seat’s polling in Srinagar, reversing the trend of low voter turnout since Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.
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For the first time since 1996, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not contesting elections in Kashmir, opting instead to support regional parties. Major parties in Kashmir, including the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), are focusing their campaigns on the restoration of the region’s semi-autonomy.
Analysts and opposition parties suggest that the BJP’s decision to skip the elections is driven by fears that the election results might contradict its narrative of a more peaceful and integrated region since 2019.
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In a separate incident on Saturday, unknown militants shot dead former village headman and BJP party member Ajiaz Ahmad Sheikh in the Shopian district.
The last major attack on tourists in Kashmir occurred in 2017 when militants targeted a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims, resulting in eight fatalities.
