India’s ruling party worked to make Kashmir’s rural development council elections a showcase. But a visit by Times reporters showed a place still struggling under heavy-handed rule. Votes were counted on Tuesday in the first local elections in Kashmir since the Indian government waged a harsh political and security crackdown in the restive region last year. Officials hailed a solid turnout as a sign that democracy has been restored, but little in Kashmir feels normal. “The voting shows democracy being alive at the grass roots,” the region’s top civil servant,…
Read MoreKashmir Votes, and India hails it as normalcy in a Dominated Region
