Srinagar, May 7 (IANS): A local first-time voter belonging to Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district has written an open letter to Kashmiri separatists questioning their right to prevent people from voting in the recently held Lok Sabha elections.

Sajjad Ahmed, a youth from Shopian district, said in the letter that he had moved out of the Kashmir Valley to pursue studies in Karnataka.

The youth said he was forced by his father to move out of the Valley against his wishes because he (youth) believed there was no place for a Kashmiri Muslim beyond the Jawahar Tunnel.

He had heard that Kashmiri Muslims were hounded outside the Valley and they could not even offer the daily prayers in places like Bengaluru.

Giving a detailed account about how all his misplaced belief proved wrong, the youth said he finally returned to Shopian to vote in the Lok Sabha elections.

In a moving description about how he felt when he heard that an old man had been killed by militants because he was associated with the BJP, the youth said: "Little away from my village is this place called Verinag. Last night, a man called Ghulam Gul Mohammad Mir was brutally killed, just because he was associated with the BJP.

"He was telling people to vote... In Anantnag, I am certain the BJP cannot win the elections; in spite of this the terrorists killed Ghulam Mir. He was sixty years old. I am compelled to think how a sixty-year-old man can be a threat for anybody in Kashmir.

"He was only supporting democracy but was silenced.

"The people from Jamaat are forcing women to wear burqa, those who go to Sufi Dargah are targeted although this is a centuries old tradition in Kashmir. Even our FaceBook is kept under check. If we write anything that is Pro-India or pro-democracy, or if we do not write in favour of the separatists, the next day I get a call from home, and I am compelled to remove that post.

"Last vacation, when I came back home, some of my relatives even called me an Indian agent.

"All through the election campaign, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah kept shouting that Kashmir has special status and that cannot be taken away. I keep wondering, what kind of special status is this where my parents and I cannot even step out of our home to vote!

"There was a time when (Syed Ali) Geelani and Yasin Malik were my role models, but today they are getting exposed.

Attacking Geelani over article 35A of the Constitution, he said: "One day Geelani says India has occupied Kashmir, and next day he is swearing by the constitutional provision of India."