A central laboratory equipped with the latest technologies will analyse food samples, to make sure safe and quality food is offered to pilgrims
world21 hours ago
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to hold a rally in main city of Kashmir on Thursday, on his first visit since the disputed region's semi-autonomy was cancelled in 2019.
Modi's government stripped the Muslim-majority territory of its special constitutional status, splitting the former state into two territories directly ruled from New Delhi. The move, widely welcomed across India, angered many in the densely militarised territory.
Rebels in the Himalayan region have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence -- which occupies a smaller part the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.
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.
Security forces on Thursday patrolled the streets, as well as in motorboats along the river that runs through Srinagar.
Most schools in the city are shut for the day, and the authorities have called on government employees to attend the rally.
Omar Abdulla, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, accused the government of organising buses to bring in crowds to attend the rally, alleging that "almost none" would be attending willingly.
ALSO READ:
A central laboratory equipped with the latest technologies will analyse food samples, to make sure safe and quality food is offered to pilgrims
world21 hours ago
The country opened an inquiry last week into the recruitment of its citizens for the conflict
world21 hours ago
Prabir Purkayastha was arrested last year after a New York Times investigation alleged his outlet was funded by a network pushing Chinese propaganda
world22 hours ago
The deportees were among hundreds of employees, Filipino and foreign, rounded up by an anti-crime government task force in a raid on March 14
world22 hours ago
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the bright flash of the X-ray flare — it was the strongest since 2005, rated on the scale for these flares as X8.7
world23 hours ago
The move comes amid a temporary halt in the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs and 500-pound bombs by the US to Israel
world1 day ago
Waibhav Anil Kale, who worked for the UN, died while travelling in a vehicle to a hospital in the Khan Younis area from Rafah
world1 day ago
The proportion reached its highest levels during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021
world2 days ago