SRINAGAR – Two days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit tothe disputed region, six Kashmiri freedom fighters were martyred and anIndian paramilitary officer was killed in clashes in the Indian IllegallyOccupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) on Friday.
Modi is scheduled to speak on Sunday in his first public event in thedisputed region since New Delhi stripped it of its semi-autonomous statusin 2019 and divided it into two directly governed territories.
Early on Friday, a gunfight broke out on the outskirts of southern Jammucity after police and soldiers spotted a group of Kashmiri men in Sunjwan,a garrison town.
Two Kashmiri fighters and a paramilitary officer were killed and at leasttwo soldiers and two police officials were wounded in the ensuing fighting,police said.
Modi is scheduled to speak some 15 kilometres from Sunjwan town. The regionhas remained on edge since 2019, as authorities put in place a slew of newlaws that critics and many residents fear could change majority-MuslimKashmir’s demographics.
Modi’s two previous visits after Kashmir’s status was changed were tomilitary camps to celebrate a Hindu festival with soldiers.
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Separately, Indian forces battled a group of Kashmiri fighters in Malwah, avillage northwest of the region’s main city of Srinagar, leaving four ofthem dead.
According to the local police, firefight began on Thursday aftercounterinsurgency police and soldiers raided a cluster of civilian homes inMalwah.
At least four soldiers and a policeman were also wounded, a policestatement said.
Police identified one of the slain fighters as Yousuf Kantroo and said hehad been the longest surviving Kashmiri fighter.
