This will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to the Indian-administrated part of Kashmir after the territory’s semi-autonomy was revoked in 2019. He will be holding a rally there on Thursday.
The Muslim-majority region lost its unique constitutional status under Modi’s administration, and it was divided into two regions that were under the direct authority of New Delhi.
Although the decision was largely applauded throughout India, many in the heavily militarized area were incensed.
Since 1989, rebels in the Himalayan area have been fighting for independence or a union with Pakistan, which, like India, claims complete sovereignty of the Kashmir region but only controls a smaller portion of it.
Thousands of armed police and paramilitary forces were deployed, and new checkpoints set up across Kashmir’s main city Srinagar, where the Hindu nationalist leader is scheduled to address a public gathering around midday.
“Various development works will also be dedicated to the nation,” Modi said in a statement on social media platform X ahead of the visit, including programmes “boosting the agro-economy” as well as tourism.
A government statement said Modi will also inaugurate infrastructure around the revered Muslim shrine of Hazratbal.
The visit comes ahead of India’s national elections due by May, the first since the region lost its autonomy. The last local elections in Kashmir were held in 2014.
Modi’s government claims New Delhi’s direct rule of Kashmir brought about a new era of “peace and development” in the region, but critics and many residents say it heralded a drastic curtailment of civil liberties and press freedom.
On Thursday, patrols by security personnel in motorboats along the river that flows through Srinagar and on the streets were conducted.
Government workers are invited to the march, even though the majority of the city’s schools are closed for the day.
The government is arranging busses to bring people to the gathering, according to Omar Abdulla, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, who said that “almost none” of them would be there voluntarily.
