A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir, senior BJP leader and MoS PMO Dr Jitendra Singh Friday said Modi-led NDA government is committed to carry forward the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s legacy on Jammu and Kashmir.
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India has long accused Pakistan of pushing separatist Muslim fighters into India’s part of Kashmir to foment revolt in the disputed Muslim-majority region.
In an announcement that brought huge cheer from the listening crowd, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that his government at the centre will give a Rs 80,000 crore package for the development of Jammu & Kashmir. Love for Kashmir draws me here.
Meanwhile, forward of the Prime Minister’s visit the town has almost was a fortress with safety personnel deployed at each nook and nook. “We can not take chances especially with the kids because the situation has become so frightening by the increased activities of the men in uniform so we have conveyed the parents not to send their wards to school on Saturday”, a Srinagar based school owner told CNS. The security agencies are also monitoring social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to block pages or profiles that are promoting the “Million March”.
The unprecedented security measures have led to traffic jams at many places.
Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had called for a “million march” to protest against the visit, ensuring the same routine arrest of separatist leaders ahead of any big event.
On Wednesday, Indian police raided a scheduled news conference of Hilal War, another pro-independence leader, before seizing him and his campaigners. His visit to Kashmir comes at a time when separatists have called a “Million March” to counter his rally.
A vehicle coming from Verinag area of south Kashmir towards the rally venue, turned turtle at Bijbehara causing injuries to five persons, police said. People in Kashmir often take to the streets against the oppression by Indian security forces in the region.
“Modi’s visit will offer fresh impetus to the “Agenda of Alliance” between both parties which have political and economic aspects”, the PDP’s chief spokesperson, Mehboob Beg, told Al Jazeera.
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The two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965 and 1971 – since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir. More than 68,000 people have been killed in the fighting and the ensuing crackdown by Indian forces.
