Tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir have remained high since February, when India launched airstrikes into Pakistani territory targeting the militants believed responsible for a terrorist attack on Indian security personnel. The strikes sparked a series of skirmishes, and regular exchanges of fire along the fragile Line of Control.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that “sinister plans” to “spread hate” and oppose development efforts in sensitive areas in Jammu and Kashmir would never succeed.
“Our brothers and sisters in Kashmir want good governance and [this] proves the dictum that the power of development is stronger than the might of bullets and bombs,” Modi said, speaking in a radio broadcast on Sunday, The Economic times has reported.
“It is clear that those who wish to spread hatred en route to development will never succeed in their sinister plans,” Modi added.
Citing the participation of villagers from remote Kashmiri villages in the ‘Back to the Village' outreach and development programme, launched last month, the prime minister suggested that the programme's success “shows how keen the people of Kashmir are to join the mainstream of development.”
On Thursday, India's Ministry of Home Affairs announced a decision to deploy 100 additional companies of armed police forces, numbering some 10,000 troops, to ‘strengthen counterinsurgency efforts' and…
