Modi visits Indian-controlled Kashmir on election campaign amid massive security

world
Modi Visits Indian-Controlled Kashmir On Election Campaign Amid Massive Security
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, © Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Share this article

By Associated Press Reporters

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the main city in Himalayan Kashmir on Thursday to campaign for his party in the local election – the first such vote since New Delhi stripped the disputed region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.

Mr Modi’s visit to Srinagar city in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of decades of anti-India rebellion, comes amid strong public opposition there to New Delhi’s changes five years back.

Advertisement

That move revoked the region’s semi-autonomous status, annulled its separate constitution, downgraded and split the former state into two centrally governed union territories— Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir — and removed inherited protections on land and jobs.


India Kashmir Election
Supporters of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shout slogans as he arrives to address an election rally in Srinagar (Mukhtar Khan/AP)

Authorities laid razor wires and erected road checkpoints to close the roads leading to the venue of Modi’s election rally in Srinagar’s main commercial centre.

Advertisement

Armed paramilitary troops and police in flak jackets patrolled the area, snipers and sharpshooters were positioned atop buildings near the venue.

“We have said in the parliament that we will restore (the region’s) statehood. Only BJP will fulfil this commitment,” Mr Modi said to a cheering crowd at the rally while referring to his Bharatiya Janata Party.

Since 1947, Kashmir has been at the heart of conflict between India and Pakistan after British rule of the subcontinent ended with the creation of the two rival countries.

Both administer part of it but claim the territory in its entirety.

Advertisement

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989.


India Kashmir Election
Policemen and supporters of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi leave the venue after an election rally in Srinagar (Mukhtar Khan/AP)

Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

Advertisement

India insists the insurgency is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a charge Islamabad denies.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting, which most Kashmiri Muslims consider a legitimate freedom struggle.

Thursday’s visit was Modi’s second to the Muslim-majority region to campaign for his party candidates in the ongoing election.

Voting began on Wednesday, with a brisk turnout in the first phase.

Advertisement

The vote is the first in a decade, and the first since his Hindu nationalist government’s 2019 move.


India Kashmir Election
Supporters of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend an election rally in Srinagar (Mukhtar Khan/AP)

Kashmir’s pro-India political parties have promised to fight to undo those changes.

Last week, Mr Modi addressed a similar rally in southern Doda district.

The second and third phases of the polling are scheduled for September 25 and October 1.

The process is staggered for logistical reasons and to allow troops to move around to stop potential violence in the Himalayan region.

Votes will be counted on October 8, with results expected that day.

Read More

Message submitting... Thank you for waiting.

Want us to email you top stories each lunch time?

Download our Apps
© BreakingNews.ie 2024, developed by Square1 and powered by PublisherPlus.com