(24 Jun 2021) India’s prime minister Narendra Modi met pro-India politicians from disputed Kashmir on Thursday for the first time since he removed the region’s semi-autonomous status and imposed a widespread crackdown almost two years ago.
Modi chaired the meeting in New Delhi attended by Kashmir's 14 political leaders, including Modi’s own party members.
India's powerful home minister, Amit Shah, and New Delhi's administrator in the region, Manoj Sinha, also attended the talks.
Among those invited were Kashmir's former three top elected officials: Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti, who was a regional coalition partner of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party for nearly two years after the 2016 state elections.
"He (Modi) listened to leaders of all the parties, everyone spoke from their hearts," said one of those present, Nirmal Singh, former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
No major decision was announced after the meeting and many Kashmiri leaders said they reiterated their demand that New Delhi should reverse its changes.
Experts say the meeting was meant to ward off mounting criticism at home and abroad over the issue.
Modi’s Hindu nationalist government downgraded the region's status in August 2019, splitting it into two federal territories - Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir - and removing inherited protections on land and jobs for the local population.
The Muslim-majority region is divided between India and Pakistan, which both claim it in its entirety.
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