Call for poll boycott in Kashmir

Kashmir's main separatist alliance has called on the people of the region to boycott India's ongoing general elections.The decision by the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference on Friday prompted the authorities to place two separatist leaders under house arrest, which in turn triggered street protests and violent clashes with the police.Indian security forces fired teargas at stone-throwing protesters who shouted: "No election, no election, we want freedom."At least a dozen people were hurt in the clashes with police in Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir."Elections are no substitute for the aspirations of the Kashmiri people and for the resolution of the dispute," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the alliance, said in a statement.