Kashmir formally divided and stripped of special status as Modi declares ‘bright future’ for region
India’s Muslim-majority region of Kashmir was formally divided on Thursday, almost three months after losing its autonomy in a move that triggered violence and stoked tensions with arch-rival Pakistan.
The move, announced in early August when India imposed a lockdown and sent in tens of thousands of extra troops, saw Jammu and Kashmir cease to be a state and split into two new administrative territories ruled directly from New Delhi.
Speaking next to a colossal statue of independence hero Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in his home state of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed a "bright future" for the Himalayan region.
Local authorities in Kahsmir, meanwhile, deployed tens of thousands of government forces and issued a high alert for rebel attacks and anti-India protests.
Police and paramilitary troops in bulletproof gear patrolled the streets in the densely populated old quarters of the main city of Srinagar and other towns across the volatile Kashmir Valley.
Kashmir was "the only place where terrorism killed around 40,000 people in the last three decades. So many mothers lost their sons… For how long could have just kept watching the innocents die?" Mr Modi said.
"We are happy that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are moving towards a new future from today onwards. Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir today are taking steps for their bright future," Mr Modi said.
Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since 1947 and has sparked two wars and numerous flare-ups between the two nuclear-armed foes, most recently in February when they conducted tit-for-tat air strikes.
In early August, Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist government stripped Indian-administered Kashmir of its special status in the constitution, detaining thousands of people – including almost all local political leaders – and cutting telecommunications.
It also announced that from October 31, the state would become two so-called union territories: Ladakh to the east bordering China – which also claims part of it – and Jammu and Kashmir in the west.