India’s prime minister will on Sunday hold his first public event in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir since New Delhi imposed a sweeping security clampdown there more than two years ago.
Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government has sought to quell a long-running insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir and buttress its hold over the Muslim-majority region, which is claimed by neighbouring Pakistan and over which the countries have fought two wars.
New Delhi nullified the area’s limited autonomy in 2019, when authorities arrested thousands and imposed the world’s longest internet shutdown, seeking to forestall local opposition to the move.
It is the most militarised part of India, with more than half a million soldiers and paramilitaries deployed across the region. Tight security is being put in place for Modi’s visit, but he can nonetheless expect a rousing welcome in Palli, with tens of thousands expected to welcome him at an event marshalled by his governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The village is in Jammu, the Hindu-majority southern part of the territory, which celebrated New Delhi’s introduction of direct rule as a bulwark against Kashmir’s separatist movement.
Modi will preside over a ceremony to mark Panchayati Raj — a day that commemorates grassroots democracy, although Kashmir has been without an elected regional government since 2018, when the BJP left its ruling coalition and the New Delhi-appointed governor stepped in.
Its last chief minister was detained during the clampdown and only released more than a year later.
