Take cue from Pak voters,ignore boycott calls: Omar to Kashmiris

Srinagar: With voters in Pakistan defying the Taliban and turning out in high numbers for the general elections, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has urged the people of his state to take cue and ignore poll boycott calls made by separatists. "Good reason for Kashmiris to ignore boycott calls," Omar Abdullah tweeted on Sunday.

"Given the bloody election Pakistan has seen I hope they now realise that there can be no good terrorists and bad terrorists, all terror is bad," he tweeted. Omar also referred to a statement made by Pakistan Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, who after casting his vote yesterday had said, "When good people do not vote, bad people benefit."

Millions of Pakistanis braved the Taliban's threats and violence, which claimed some 50 lives, to vote in the general elections that marked the first transition from one civilian government to another in the country's 66-year history. Reacting to Omar's tweet, the hardline Hurriyat Conference, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, said it "stands by its election boycott policy".