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Peace Elusive as Kashmir Loses Special Status

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - Indian Kashmir officially became a federally ruled
   territory Thursday, nearly three months after New Delhi stripped its
   decades-old special status, but peace remains elusive in the Himalayan
   region that has been wracked by a violent separatist insurgency and is
   the flashpoint of its dispute with Pakistan.

   The erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state is now split into two territories
   administered by New Delhi. One consists of the Muslim dominated Kashmir
   valley and Hindu dominated Jammu. The second is Ladakh, an icy desert
   bordering China.

   However, months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist
   government made the dramatic move, saying it will help stamp out
   terrorism and spur development in the country's most restive region,
   there is widespread disenchantment and little semblance of normalcy in
   the Himalayan valley that is home to 8 million people.

   "New highways, new railway lines, new schools, new hospitals will take
   the development of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to new heights,"
   Modi told a public rally in the western state of Gujarat.
   

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