ISLAMABAD : India’s prime minister Narendra Modi held a crucial meeting with politicians from occupied Kashmir on Thursday, June 24, for the first time since New Delhi stripped the region’s semi-autonomy and jailed many of them in a crackdown.
No major decision was announced after the meeting and many Kashmiri leaders said they reiterated their demand that New Delhi should reverse its 2019 changes.
In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the meeting an “important step in the ongoing efforts towards a developed and progressive” Kashmir.
“Our democracy’s biggest strength is the ability to sit across a table and exchange views. I told the leaders of J&K that it is the people, specially the youth who have to provide political leadership to J&K, and ensure their aspirations are duly fulfilled,” he said.
The Indian prime minister said that his government’s priority was to “strengthen grassroots democracy” in the region. “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 tweeted.(Dawn)
