Thousands hail Indian Kashmir's new leader

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) – A young, pro-India Muslim politician, set to become the new chief minister of Indian Kashmir, was hailed by thousands of supporters on his arrival here Wednesday from national capital New Delhi.

Omar Abdullah, the 38-year-old leader of the National Conference, was backed by India's ruling Congress party for the top job, after staggered state polls in the troubled Muslim-majority region produced a fractured verdict.

Supporters traveling in cars, buses, trucks and on motorcycles followed Abdullah's bullet-proof automobile as it left the fortified airport in Srinagar, the summer capital of the insurgency-hit region.

Carrying party flags, the supporters danced and shouted pro-Abdullah slogans, witnesses said.

Abdullah later addressed them inside a cricket stadium.

"I will work to end your problems, be it power, roads or jobs," said Abdullah.

The National Conference won 28 of the state assembly's 87 seats, while the Congress party bagged 17.

The regional People's Democratic Party will provide the main opposition with 21 seats.

Abdullah, who has served as India's junior foreign minister, met Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi Tuesday, who agreed that the young Muslim politician would lead Kashmir's newly-elected administration.

Despite a boycott call by separatists and Islamic rebels, more than 60 percent of voters participated in the Kashmir polls, which came after a period of direct federal rule in the region.

Abdullah inherited the party leadership in 2002 from his charismatic father, Farooq Abdullah, who had succeeded his own father Sheikh Abdullah as chief minister of the disputed Himalayan region.

Indian Kashmir is in the grip of a nearly two-decades-old insurgency against New Delhi's rule that has left more than 47,000 people dead by one official count.