Modi visits Indian-controlled Kashmir on election campaign amid massive security

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir (Mukhtar Khan/AP)

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the main city in Himalayan Kashmir on Thursday to campaign for his party in the local election – the first such vote since New Delhi stripped the disputed region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.

Mr Modi’s visit to Srinagar city in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of decades of anti-India rebellion, comes amid strong public opposition there to New Delhi’s changes five years back.