India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi made his first trip to the capital of Himalayan Kashmir on Thursday to support his party in the local elections.
This is the first time that the disputed area has been in a local election since New Delhi revoked the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.
The strong popular opposition to New Delhi’s measures five years ago coincided with Mr. Modi’s visit to Srinagar, the Kashmir Valley’s capital and the epicenter of decades of anti-India turmoil.
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That decision invalidated the region’s semi-autonomous status, nullified its independent constitution, reduced and divided the former state into two centrally managed union territories—Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir—and eliminated inherited land and job protections.
Authorities used razor wire and set up traffic checks to restrict the roads leading to…