Kashmir region on lockdown for Modi visit

[Antidote]

India — Separatists called for a strike on Monday across the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was due to lead a campaign rally for local elections.

The mountain region, where anti-India sentiment runs deep among the mostly Muslim population, was on high alert with snipers on rooftops, road barricades and sniffer dogs near campaign rally venues in the main city of Srinagar.

On Sunday night, a suspected rebel hurled a grenade that injured one soldier at a paramilitary post in the southern town of Tral, police said.

Authorities imposed a daytime curfew Monday in some parts of Srinagar, barring residents from leaving their homes. Main roads leading into Srinagar were lined with razor wire to contain traffic, and police and paramilitary soldiers were patrolling on foot and in armored vehicles.


Officials said they were taking no risks with Modi arriving midday Monday before the fractious region holds a third day of voting Tuesday to elect a regional legislature. The elections are being held in five stages to allow government forces to better guard against any violence or anti-India protests that erupt. Results are due Dec. 23.

Pro-India Kashmiri parties say the elections will boost development and infrastructure, while separatists say the polls are an illegitimate exercise under Indian military occupation. In recent days, authorities have detained hundreds of separatist leaders and activists who have called for an election boycott.
On Monday the separatist umbrella group, All Parties Hurriyat Conference, urged workers to go on strike in order to “send a clear message to Indian leadership that Kashmiris have never accepted the dominance and hegemony of Indian union and they would decide their political future only through right to self-determination.”

Modi was scheduled to speak at a campaign rally for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The rally was being held in a sports stadium — festooned with orange BJP flags and huge banners showing Modi’s face. It will be Modi’s third visit in a month, as he has been campaigning heavily in hopes of helping his party win a first-ever majority in India’s only Muslim-majority state.

Rebel groups in Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989. More than 68,000 people have been killed in the uprising and a subsequent Indian military crackdown that has suppressed most rebel activity.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since 1947 over rival claims to Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of supporting the militants with arms and trainings, while Islamabad staunchly denies this, saying it offers only moral and diplomatic support for their cause.

 

[Raje amar]

TIMES OF INDIA
In Srinagar, Modi says ‘will repay your love’
PTI | Dec 8, 2014, 05.11PM IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address at the election rally at Srinagar's Sher-e-Kashmir Stadiu
SRINAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invoked Atal Bihari Vajpayee's concepts of communal harmony, humanity and democracy to share the pain of Kashmiris and promised to take the state to new heights of development.

"People of Kashmir have given me a lot of trust and love. I will repay this love and trust with interest in the form of development. I can die for this love and trust showered on me," he said in his first election meeting in the valley, that avoided any mention of controversial issues like abrogation of Article 370.

In his 30 minutes speech, Modi used the opportunity to attack the "all pervasive" corruption under successive governments of "Congress, father-son and father-daughter" in the last 30 years and asked the people to give him "one chance" to bring development.

Wearing a traditional Kashmiri 'pheran', Modi sought to strike a chord with the people saying, "I as Pradhan Sevak have come to share your pain and anguish. Your sorrow is my sorrow, your pain is my pain, your problem is my problem. I have not come to take anything.

"People in the Army and police have died and so have the innocent youths. Their loss is irreparable and no one can compensate for it but sharing can reduce the pain."

Invoking Atal Bihari Vajpayee's famous 2003 speech at the same venue, Modi said, "Vajpayee made a good beginning. I have come to carry this forward. It is my duty to carry forward and fulfil his dreams of insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and jamhooriyat (democracy) which are the three pillars that can turn around Kashmir in the 21st century on the path of development."

At the start of his speech, the Prime Minister said this is the first time in the last 30 years that any leader has made bold to address a meeting in the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium.

Former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had addressed meetings in the adjacent ground of the stadium complex.

The Prime Minister said that it is the first time that army owned up the mistake of gunning down two innocent youth in a press conference and action has been taken against those who opened fire.

"This had not happened in the last 30 years. Ye Modi sarkar ka kaamal hai. Ye mere nek iradon ka saboot hai. (This is the wonder of Modi government. It is a proof of my honest intentions)," he said.

He said terrorism may be over but not corruption. "I want to eliminate corruption. Unless it is eradicated, the ordinary people's lives will not become any better," he said.

Giving an example of corruption in the state, Modi said that when he met families of flood hit victims during Diwali, they said money should not be given to the state government but rather transferred directly into their accounts.

"This shows they did not trust their own state government but Modi in whom they showed so much faith," he said.

The Prime Minister said he has been visiting Kashmir ever since July and would again be coming in 2015.

Modi said it is tourism and hydro-electric potential of the state which can change its face.

"Tourism can give employment to even a pea-nut seller ... We can open up new destinations for tourism so that people who have visited the state can come again. This can be achieved by small measures of infrastructure at lesser known places," he said.

Modi said Kashmir has the potential to light up the entire country. "Small hydro-electric plants will give employment opportunities to youth of the state and allow them to lead a life of dignity."