SRINAGAR India (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Pakistan on Tuesday of waging “proxy war” by sending militants to attack India and he used a trip to the disputed Kashmir region to stress that reconciliation between the nuclear-armed neighbors needs peace.
Making his second visit since his election triumph in May to the northern region – whose territory has been disputed since a war between India and Pakistan that followed their independence in 1947 – Modi vowed to strengthen India’s armed forces.
“The neighboring country has lost the strength to fight a conventional war but continues to engage in the proxy war of terrorism,” Modi told officers and men from the army and air force in the Himalayan region of Leh.
The Hindu nationalist politician was elected by a landslide on promises to restore India’s economic and military prowess and meet the security challenge posed by a rising China and long-running tension with Pakistan.
Yet he surprised many observers by inviting South Asian leaders – including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – to his inauguration in a bid to bolster neglected regional ties.
There are regular clashes on the Line of Control that divides Indian- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, however, and Modi has made it clear that bilateral dialogue depends on the guns falling silent.
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