Modi accuses Pakistan of waging proxy war in Kashmir

KARGIL, Aug 12, (AFP): Narendra Modi accused Pakistan Tuesday of waging a proxy war in Kashmir as he became the first Indian prime minister in nine years to visit Kargil, scene of a deadly 1999 conflict with Pakistan.

Modi landed in the remote Himalayan town a day after India and its rival Pakistan traded accusations of ceasefire violations on their border in Kashmir.

A Pakistani army incursion in the Kargil area 15 years ago triggered a conflict between the two countries that killed more than 1,000 on both sides.

The then-prime minister Manmohan Singh visited the town in 2005.

Since 1999 India has maintained a heavy military presence in Muslim-majority Kargil in the mountainous Kashmiri region of Ladakh.

But a reporter at the scene said there were few soldiers on the streets of Kargil on Tuesday.

"Today when I came I heard the cheerful claps of the people," Modi told the 5,000-strong crowd in the town, which was festooned with flags from his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

"I had also come at a time when the place was echoing with the noises of bombs and bullets," he said, recalling an earlier visit he made to Kargil before becoming prime minister.

Abdul Hanie told AFP locals had high hopes for the new prime minister after years of neglect from the national government.

"He really seems like talking about the real things, like an airport and the tunnel to Kashmir valley," said the 30-year-old resident of Kargil, which is often cut off in winter.

"At least he came here as the first step. I am hopeful things will change for us, particularly during winters," added Zainab Khatoon, who attended the event with her infant son.

Speaking earlier to soldiers in Leh, capital of the Ladakh region, Modi condemned what he called a "proxy war by Pakistan".

He said troops were "suffering more casualties from terrorism than from war", according to the government's Press Information Bureau website.

New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of using Pakistan-based militant groups such as the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba against its forces in Kashmir-a claim that Islamabad denies.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, which both claim the region in full but administer separate partial areas. The neighbours have fought two of their three wars over its control.

Fighting between Indian forces and rebel groups seeking independence for Kashmir or a merger of the territory with Pakistan has killed tens of thousands since 1989, mostly civilians.

Ajai Sahni, executive director at the Institute of Conflict Management think tank, said Modi's visit was an "important first step towards bringing these areas back to the centre of national and strategic consciousness".

"This government's initiative in the region will gradually shift the power equation in favour of India over Pakistan as people in the region become more integrated (with India) with development and progress," he told AFP.

Modi had been reportedly planning to visit Kashmir's Siachen glacier-dubbed the world's highest battlefield due to the long-running territorial dispute-but officials said he would not now do so, without giving a reason.

An estimated 8,000 troops have died on the glacier since 1984, almost all of them from avalanches, landslides, frostbite, altitude sickness or heart failure rather than combat.

The nuclear-armed rivals fought over Siachen in 1987, though guns on the glacier have largely fallen silent since a peace process began in 2004.

Modi's visit came a day after Pakistan summoned a senior Indian diplomat over a cross-border firing incident near the eastern city of Sialkot at the foot of the Kashmir hills, which the foreign ministry said killed at least one civilian.

Pakistani authorities accused India of a "ceasefire violation" and registered a formal protest.