The mirage of peace and prosperity in Kashmir

Things have been going swimmingly in Jammu and Kashmir ever since Narendra Modi, in August 2019, turned off the internet, locked up thousands of politicians and academics, and split India’s only majority-Muslim state into two federally-run units, or union territories. Just ask the government. Where separatists used to put stones and guns into young people’s hands, the prime minister “replaced them with mobiles and laptops by setting up industry and providing employment”, Amit Shah, the home minister and Mr Modi’s chief lieutenant, told reporters during a recent visit to Srinagar, Kashmir’s main city. Where Kashmiris used to live in fear and penury, chimed in Manoj Sinha, the Delhi-appointed governor of the territory, in December, there are now far fewer deaths from terrorism, the press is free and there will soon be elections.