Modi hits campaign trail in Kashmir after deadly attack

SRINAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi told voters Monday not to be intimidated against casting ballots in Indian Kashmir’s state elections after a string of attacks, as he hit the campaign trail in the Muslim-majority region.
Modi’s Hindu nationalist party is making an unprecedented bid for power in the troubled Himalayan region, where tensions are high following the killing of 11 soldiers and police in a series of assaults last Friday.
But speaking at an election rally in the south of the state, Modi said voters should not be scared off by the attacks which India blames on Pakistan-backed militant groups.
“Our soldiers have sacrificed their lives to safeguard democracy,” he said at an election rally in the southern Jammu area of the state, according to a news agency.