Deadly Clashes Reported as Kashmir Votes in Pakistan-Administered Territory

A protest group says 30 dead in unrest around the region's first election round

By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost

Voting opened July 27 in Pakistan-administered Kashmir's regional elections, and by the count of one protest organization, at least 30 people have died in the unrest that followed. That figure comes from the protest group itself, not from an independent government tally, and readers should hold it accordingly — as an early, single-source claim rather than a confirmed toll.

What is clear is that the vote has been accompanied by deadly clashes, a familiar pattern in a territory where elections routinely double as flashpoints for grievances over governance, autonomy and the long-unresolved status of Kashmir itself, which is claimed in whole or part by both Pakistan and India. Details on who died, how, and at whose hands remain thin in initial reporting.

The region has a long history of disputed elections and disputed casualty counts alike, and this round appears to be no exception. Further rounds of voting are expected, and so, most likely, is further scrutiny of exactly what happened in these first days at the polls.

— Compiled from reporting by Al Jazeera.

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