India hosts Sarkozy

India hosted French President Nicolas Sarkozy at Republic Day yesterday with a parade showcasing its military might amid tight security across the country, especially in the restive northeast and Kashmir.

Around 20,000 troops and police, including snipers on high-rise buildings, guarded India's capital and checked cars coming into the city. Sandbagged posts dotted the city centre.

Every year, rebels call for the boycott of India's Republic Day and often carry out attacks on security forces and government buildings to protest India's founding as a republic, but few incidents were reported this year in the run-up to the parade.

In Kashmir, people stayed indoors and businesses were closed in Srinagar, the state's main city, after separatists called a strike to mark what they say is a "black day."

"Indian forces have let loose a reign of terror across Kashmir," Kashmir's separatist alliance, All Parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference, said in a statement. Separatist violence has declined in Kashmir since India and Pakistan, who claim the region in full but rule it in parts, launched a peace process in 2004. But people are still killed almost daily in fighting between militants and soldiers.

Sarkozy is visiting India to cement business and political ties between the two countries, including possible lucrative nuclear power and arms deals. He joined Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and thousands of spectators at a military procession to watch elephants and camels join tanks, missiles and replicas of its warships.

India's media was at first more interested in the possible visit - later cancelled - of Carla Bruni, a singer and former model who was reported to be near to marrying Sarkozy. Indian newspapers had been full of stories of how a visit by his girlfriend could upset protocol in the deeply conservative country.