Leaders of Kashmir’s biggest political party have been sworn into office to run a largely powerless local government for the first time after India stripped the region of its special status five years ago
Leaders of Kashmir’s biggest political party were sworn into office Wednesday to run a largely powerless government after the first election since India stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah will be the region’s chief minister after his party won the most seats in the three-phased election. It has support from India’s main opposition Congress party, although Congress decided not to be a part of the new government.
The vote was Kashmir’s first in a decade and the first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s long-held semi-autonomy in 2019. The NC staunchly opposed the move, and its victory is seen as a referendum against the Modi government’s changes.
Kashmir’s Lt. Gov. Manoj Sinha, New Delhi’s top administrator in Kashmir, administered the oaths of office to Abdullah and the five members of his council of ministers in a ceremony under tight security at a lakeside venue in the region’s main city of Srinagar.
