Kashmir: Modi hails tourism dividend on first visit since imposing direct rule - BBC News

PM Narendra Modi removed the semi-autonomous status of India's only Muslim-majority state in 2019.

2 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, BJP Social MediaImage caption, Narendra Modi visited Srinagar for the first time since Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its special statusIndian-administered Kashmir has been transformed economically since it was stripped of its semi-autonomous status, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said.

Security was tight for his first trip to the Muslim-majority region since he made the controversial change in 2019.

"I am working hard to win your hearts," he told a rally in Srinagar, weeks before general elections are held.

An armed revolt against Indian rule in the disputed territory has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s.

Kashmir was divided after India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947. The two nuclear-armed states both claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over it in the decades since.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68487461

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