India’s Modi touts development projects in visit to Kashmir

By AIJAZ HUSSAIN
Associated Press

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Himalayan Kashmir for his first public event since New Delhi stripped the disputed region’s semi-autonomy and took direct control in 2019. Modi remotely inaugurated a tunnel and work on two hydropower projects before delivering a speech Sunday that was punctuated by his government’s developmental achievements. He said the territory was put on a path of unprecedented development since 2019 but made no political commitments to the region’s people who have been without an elected local government for four years. Government forces fanned out across Kashmir to thwart any violence. On Friday, two suspected militants and a paramilitary officer were killed in a gunfight. Police said they had crossed from Pakistan.