Apropos Business Recorder editorial 'Modi gets a hostile reception in held Kashmir', one needs to appreciate the profundity of argument articulated by the newspaper. As pointed out by the newspaper, the day Modi arrived in Srinagar, police erected barricades at various points as soldiers lined the main roads and civilian movements within the Valley were restricted. A security crackdown preceded the visit. "This was the scene after more than thirty years of a brutal military campaign to suppress the Kashmir struggle for independence. Clearly, there is no way New Delhi can win the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people."
That the way India's highly respected newspaper, The Hindu, reports Modi's visit to the held Kashmir is a sardonic comment on the Indian Establishment's approach to Kashmir. According to the newspaper, "With parts of the summer capital under curfew, separatist leaders [freedom fighters] under house arrest, a separatists-sponsored shutdown as usual greeting the prime minister in valley and a massive security bandobust in place, Narendra Modi on Friday arrived here on his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir."
One, therefore, to agree with the line taken by Business Recorder that Modi "as the popular choice of India's far right is in a unique position to take bold steps to resolve Kashmir issue. The hostile welcome he received in J&K is demonstrative of the basic fact that nothing short of a political solution, outside the confines of Indian union, would satisfy the Kashmiri people."
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