Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation in a special broadcast on national broadcaster All India Radio today. PM Modi said the government's Kashmir decision would bring about a host of positive changes in the lives of the common man. It would mean the protection of Indian laws, industrialisation, a boost in tourism and therefore more employment opportunities, he said in his televised address to the nation days after the government's move to end the special powers of the state and bifurcating it to union territories. He also underscored Union Minister Amit Shah's assurance that Jammu and Kashmir will not be a Union territory for long.
Article 370 gave the people "nepotism, terrorism and separatism and nothing else, he said, pointing out that over the last three decades, more than "42,000 innocents have been killed" in the state.
The Prime Minister's special address comes two days after the government's decision to end special status for Jammu and Kashmir and split it into two union territories.
Earlier today, senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who reached Srinagar to hold a meeting with party leaders, was stopped at the Srinagar airport along with Kashmir Congress chief Gulam Ahmed Mir.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has banned large gatherings in Ladakh's Kargil, Drass and Sankoo towns amid a lock down over the government's move to end the special status of the state and bifurcate it into two Union territories.
Imposing restrictions under Section 144, the district magistrate of the Kargil district said in a release that any assembly of four or more people would attract punitive action.
The restrictions came into effect at 5 am on Thursday and would remain until further notice, the release said.
Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed no major incident of violence over the past three days. On Wednesday, visuals of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval chatting and sharing a meal of traditional Kashmiri Wazwan with locals in the Kashmir Valley emerged amid lockdown.
The parliament has approved a resolution abrogating special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution. It also cleared a bill to split the state into two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Over 300 political leaders, including former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, remain in custody as part of the government's measures since midnight on Sunday to avoid trouble.
Over 40,000 troops are in Jammu and Kashmir, sent over the past weeks in the government's meticulous preps for its Article 370 move.
As part of a complete communications blackout, phone services and internet connections remain suspended. Top officials are using satellite phones to communicate.
