Empty streets, heavy security as Modi visits Indian Kashmir
Indian prime minister visits Muslim-majority Kashmir amid indications that he will revive the issue of stripping the region of its autonomy
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted by near-empty streets lined by security personnel on his first official visit to Kashmir yesterday, as separatists enforced a strike to demand political dialogue about the future of the divided region.
Kashmir is split between rivals India and Pakistan. Demonstrators on the Pakistan-controlled side burned an effigy of Modi and India's tricolour flag yesterday to protest against the prime minister's visit.
Mr Modi will take with him the gift of bodies of Indian soldiers
Schools and shops were closed and normally busy roads were free of traffic in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, when Modi arrived to meet army commanders in one of the world's most militarised regions.
"It is our earnest wish that Mr Modi and the newly elected NDA government understand the ardent political message we seek to convey through this act," said separatist leader Mirwaiz Omar Farooq.
Police erected barricades to stop and search vehicles entering Srinagar ahead of Modi's arrival, and soldiers flanked main roads throughout the Himalayan region, which that has been racked by insurgency for decades.
Modi has long been associated with a Hindu nationalist organisation that wants to end the semi-autonomous status that Indian-controlled Kashmir nominally enjoys. His government has promised to renew the debate on the sensitive issue.
Modi was later due to inaugurate a hydroelectric dam in the mountains close to the line of control, the de facto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
