NEW DELHI: The Indian government foiled a nationalist party's plan Monday to commemorate a holiday by raising the country's flag in the heart of Kashmir, home to a separatist insurgency.
Leaders from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in the opposition in the national parliament, flew to Jammu in Indian-controlled Kashmir but were initially not even allowed to leave the airplane and were asked to return to New Delhi. After sitting on the tarmac for two hours, they eventually entered the terminal but will not be allowed to go anywhere else in the state, which is the only one in India with a Muslim majority.
While the Indian flag flies over government buildings in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the BJP leaders had wanted to hoist the colors in a square in Srinagar that is the frequent site of anti-India protests. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, where separatists groups are fighting for an independent homeland or merge with Pakistan.
The BJP ceremony was meant to commemorate Republic Day, which marks India's adoption of a democratic constitution and falls on Jan. 26.
The Kashmiri and national governments feared that move would provoke violence after more than a dozen separatist groups said they would prevent any attempt to hoist the Indian flag in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar, the region's city.
It was not immediately known what the three leaders _ Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar _ planned to do next.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Kashmir's top elected official, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, had both appealed to the BJP to drop its plans before the leaders took off on Monday.
More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Kashmir since an armed revolt erupted in the state in 1989. – AP
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