Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told leaders from the former state of Jammu and Kashmir that elections would be held there after the region’s constituencies were reconfigured, following the revocation of its semi-autonomous statehood, meeting participants said.
The talks on Thursday were the first between Modi and Kashmiri leaders since the government scrapped the Himalayan region’s special status in 2019, detaining thousands of people and imposing a months-long lockdown.
The government then split the disputed Muslim-majority region into two federally administrated union territories.
Kashmiri leaders have long demanded a restoration of their semi-autonomy and for elections to be held, but India has been working to readjust some assembly and parliamentary constituencies there under a process known as “delimitation.”
Modi later took to Twitter to reiterate the line he had taken in the roughly three-hour talks in New Delhi.
“Delimitation has to happen at a quick pace so that polls can happen and J&K gets an elected government that gives strength to J&K’s development trajectory,” he said.
Amit Shah, the country’s home minister, added on Twitter that the delimitation measures and elections would be “important milestones in restoring statehood as promised in parliament.”
Regional leaders said they pressed their demand for restoration of statehood and limited autonomy at the talks.
“We told PM that we don’t stand with what was done on 5th Aug 2019,” said Omar Abdullah, leader of the regional party National Conference. “We’re not ready to accept it, but we won’t take law into hands, we will fight this in court.
Jammu and Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and its neighbor Pakistan, although each control only parts of it.
The Indian government said the changes made in 2019 were needed to spur development in a region where an armed insurgency has raged for decades against New Delhi’s rule.
