Seven south Kashmir village heads resign
June 8th, 2012 - 3:51 pm ICT by IANSSrinagar, June 8 (IANS) Seven village heads from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district Friday announced they had resigned from their posts. District authorities would not confirm the resignations but elected village officials have recently been receiving threats from militants to quit office.
The seven elected village elders issued paid advertisements in two vernacular newspapers stating they had resigned from their posts.
“We have no official confirmation of this as none of them has submitted their resignation to us”, said a district official in Pulwama.
Posters by a militant outfit have appeared at some places in Pulwama district in the last few days asking the elected village heads to resign from their posts.
There also have been sporadic separatist guerrilla attacks on some of the elected village heads in areas of south Kashmir during recent days,
On June 4, gunmen shot at and injured a village head in Keller village of Pulwama district.
On June 5, the 72-year-old father-in-law of a Sarpanch (village council head) was fired at by gunmen in Chak Badrina village of the same district.
On June 7, gunmen attacked a village nambardar (village headman) in Gufbal village of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
An unprecedented voter turnout of around 80 percent had marked the Panchayat elections in the Kashmir Valley in 2011.
Following militant threats, scores of political activists had distanced themselves from mainstream political parties through paid newspaper advertisements in the 1990s when the separatist violence was at its peak in the Valley.
- Gurrillas shoot dead two policemen in Kashmir (Second Lead) - Jul 03, 2012
- Village headman shot dead in Kashmir - Feb 09, 2012
- Guerrillas barge into house, kill one in Kashmir - Jun 15, 2011
- Curfew imposed in Bandipora, Kupwara districts - Jul 23, 2010
- Separatist shutdown mars life in Kashmir - Jul 28, 2012
- Gunfight between security forces, guerrillas in Kashmir (Lead) - Aug 29, 2012
- Hizbul commander behind south Kashmir car blast arrested - Apr 21, 2012
- Polling begins for second phase of panchayat polls in J-K - Apr 17, 2011
- SBI flayed for shifting branch control to Jammu - Apr 19, 2012
- Security forces battle guerrillas in Kashmir (Second Lead) - Aug 29, 2012
- National Conference activist killed in Kashmir - Mar 31, 2011
- Separatists shutdown affects life in Kashmir - Feb 07, 2012
- Separatist shutdown hits life in Kashmir Valley (Lead) - Apr 07, 2012
- Two guerrillas killed, army major injured in Kashmir (Lead) - Jul 09, 2011
- Unidentified gunmen kill three in Kashmir - Aug 23, 2010
Tags: 1990s, advertisements, district authorities, few days, guerrilla attacks, gunmen, kashmir, kashmir valley, militants, panchayat elections, political activists, political parties, resignation, resignations, separatist violence, south kashmir, village elders, village headman, village officials, voter turnout