Kashmir leaders to urge India’s Modi to restore region’s autonomy

SRINAGAR (Reuters), 21 June 2021 – Kashmiri politicians will urge Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy when they meet him on Thursday for the first talks since he took away the region’s special status two years ago, party officials said.

New Delhi has struggled for decades to dampen secessionist sentiments in what had been its only Muslim majority state, blaming neighbouring Pakistan for supporting insurgencies in the Himalayan region, which Islamabad denies.

Reasserting New Delhi’s control in August 2019, Modi abolished Article 370 of the Constitution, ending the region’s autonomy and removing its statehood by splitting it into the federal territories of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Buddhist-dominated Ladakh.

Some of the politicians set to meet Modi on Thursday were among the thousands of people detained back then to forestall a backlash against the shock move. The government also imposed months-long communications restrictions in the highly-sensitive Kashmir valley to stifle opposition.