Indian PM promises elections in Kashmir

NEW DELHI, June 25 (Agencies): Indian PM Narendra Modi has said his government plans to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir soon.

He told regional leaders in Delhi on Thursday that polls could be held after an exercise to redraw the boundaries of assembly seats was carried out.

This was the first such meeting since a controversial decision revoked the region's special status in 2019.

Relations between Delhi and the restive Muslim-majority Kashmir valley have worsened in recent years.

Mr Modi's government imposed direct rule in 2018 after his party's coalition with a local party broke up.

Thousands of people, including mainstream and prominent Kashmiri leaders, were detained and a crippling months-long lockdown was imposed in August 2019.

Kashmiri leaders have long demanded the restoration of their semi-autonomy and for elections to be held, but India has been working to readjust some assembly and parliamentary constituencies there under a process known as "delimitation".

Modi took to Twitter later on Thursday to reiterate the line he had taken in the roughly three-hour talks in New Delhi.

"Delimitation has to happen at a quick pace so that polls can happen and J&K [Jammu and Kashmir] gets an elected Government that gives strength to J&K's development trajectory," he posted on Twitter.

Regional leaders said they pressed their demand for restoration of statehood and limited autonomy at the talks.

"We told PM that we don't stand with what was done on 5th Aug 2019," said Omar Abdullah, leader of the regional party National Conference. "We're not ready to accept it, but we won't take law into hands, we will fight this in court."

As well as revoking the region's statehood and semi-autonomy in August 2019 by abolishing Article 370 of the constitution, India split its only Muslim majority state into two federally administered territories - Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir - and removing inherited protections on land and jobs for the local population.

The Modi government has said the move was needed to speed up development in the region. The meeting comes just a few months after India and Pakistan in February reaffirmed a 2003 ceasefire agreement along a disputed border in Kashmir.