High security in Kashmir to prevent anti-India protests during Modi’s visit

Indian security forces have detained almost 400 Kashmiri separatists over the past week to prevent them marching in protest during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit on Saturday, police said, raising tension Friday in the disputed territory, where authorities have dramatically tightened security.

This was Modi’s first public meeting after formation of the PDP-BJP government in the state.

The venue for the Prime Minister’s rally here – Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium – has been turned into a virtual fortress with Special Protection Group (SPG) taking over it, officials said, adding a large posse of police and paramilitary personnel have also been deployed in and around the area to secure it.

While mentioning former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Jamuriyat, Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat as essential for Kashmir, Modi, however, avoided any talk about the engagement with Pakistan and Hurriyat vis-a-vis the Kashmir issue.

Sayeed has been hard-selling the Vajpayee era. The State’s development has to stand on these three pillars… People participated in recent polls and came out in huge numbers even for the panchayat polls.

“This was Atalji’s dream”, Mr. Modi said.

“Without the eclectic, sufist culture of “Kashmiriyat” not only Kashmir, but entire India is incomplete”. “Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had raised expectations about the PM’s visit and termed it historic and important”.

A youth died in firing on Srinagar’s outskirts this evening after a few people tried to take out a march, police said. Let us extend friendship to Pakistan.

India accuses Pakistan of backing the separatist militants.

Reacting to the huge economic package announced by the prime minister for J&K, National Conference leader and former state chief minister Omar Abdullah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has weighed the Kashmir issue in “rupees and paise”. “It might be a brand new starting and we expect lot of initiatives on the socio-political and financial entrance”, the PDP’s youth president, Waheed -Ur-Rehman Para, informed ANI in Srinagar. “There was nothing like that in Modi’s speech”. It expected a substantial economic package from the Centre for reconstruction and compensation to victims. He said, “There are lakhs of refugees here since 1947 and about 15-20 per cent population of the state is displaced”. “(Indian cricketers Sachin) Tendulkar, (Virender) Sehwag or (MS) Dhoni, whoever hit a six, they did it with a Made-in-Kashmir bat”, he said.

The prime minister said that there are many steps which have been taken into considerations including the skill development, education, IIT, IIMs, hospitals, AIIMS and when all these facilities would be fully developed the people will get employment.