India's Modi makes landmark visit to disputed Kashmir

Narendra Modi accused Pakistan on Tuesday of waging a proxy war in Kashmir as he became the first Indian prime minister to visit Kargil since more than 1,000 died in fighting there 15 years ago.
 
Modi landed in the remote Himalayan town a day after India and its rival Pakistan traded accusations of ceasefire violations on their border in Kashmir.

He is the first Indian leader to visit the highly sensitive area since a 1999 Pakistani army incursion triggered a conflict between the two countries.

Since then, India has maintained a heavy military presence in Muslim-majority Kargil in the mountainous Kashmiri region of Ladakh.

But a reporter at the scene said there were few soldiers on the streets of Kargil on Tuesday.

"Today when I came I heard the cheerful claps of the people," Modi told the 5,000-strong crowd in the town, which was festooned with flags from his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.