India's PM uses Independence Day to defend Kashmir changes

In an address from the capital's Mughal-era Red Fort, Modi said Kashmir's previous status — some political autonomy and a ban on outsiders buying land and taking public sector jobs in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region — had fueled a movement for separatism and was unjust for Kashmiri women, because the law said they lost their inheritance rights if they marry a person from outside the region.

Indian foreign ministry officials have said Kashmir is returning to normalcy, but The Associated Press and other news organizations operating in the region describe severe constraints, including the suspension of internet, cellphone and landline services and steel and barbed-wire street blockades. In Pakistan, which shares divided Kashmir and has fought two wars with India over the region, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi described Modi as a key hurdle to peace and dialogue between the rivals.

While daily protests have erupted in Indian-administered Kashmir, Modi has received widespread public support in other parts of the country. Story continuesOn Thursday, turning to his agenda to make India a $5 trillion economy in the next five years, Modi said the changes in Kashmir will help the region contribute more to India's development.

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