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[DAWN] Indian-Indian Kashmire was stripped of its autonomy to free it from "terrorism and separatism", Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.In his first comments on the constitutional bombshell carried out while Kashmire was under a military lockdown, Modi insisted that his government had made a "historic decision". He did not bring up the clampdown in the region in his speech.
The Hindu nationalist BJP government rushed through a presidential decree on Monday to ditch the Moslem-majority region's constitutionally-guaranteed status. The Indian parliament also passed a law splitting the state into two territories.
The move was opposed by some of the opposition and has been questioned by Indian journalists and international organizations.
Internet and telephone connections in Kashmire have been cut since Monday and a curfew imposed as the authorities feared trouble when the decision was announced.