India’s Prime Minister on Monday inaugurated a tunnel in the north-east of disputed Kashmir that will provide year-round access to the city that is isolated by heavy snowfall every winter.
The $932 million project includes a second tunnel and a series of bridges and high mountain roads that will connect Kashmir with Ladakh, a cold desert region located between India, Pakistan and China that has faced territorial disputes for decades. Is.
Amid tight security, Narendra Modi visited the resort town of Sonamarg where he inaugurated a 6.5 km long tunnel. The town marks the end of the conifer-covered mountains of the Kashmir Valley before Ladakh begins across the rocky Zojila mountain pass. The tunnel, called the Z-turn, will now provide year-round access for the first time.
The second tunnel, about 14 kilometers long, will cross the challenging Zojila Pass and connect Sonamarg to Ladakh and is expected to be completed in 2026.
Sonmarg and Ladakh are plagued by severe snowfall, with mountain passes being closed due to heavy snowfall, leaving them cut off from neighboring towns for about six months every year.
Authorities deployed police and soldiers in the area on Monday and set up several checkpoints at major intersections as security measures for the prime minister’s visit. The troops also deployed sharpshooters at several points and conducted surveillance with drones to ensure continuous surveillance.
Later, at a public meeting attended by hundreds of people in the cold weather, Modi said the ambitious project would improve road connectivity and boost tourism in the region. Some of Modi’s cabinet ministers and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also attended the meeting.
Experts say that the tunnel project is important for the Army, which will provide much better capabilities for operations in Ladakh, as well as provide freedom of movement to the civilians throughout the year between the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh.
In October, gunmen shot and killed at least seven people working on the tunnel project and wounded at least five others. Police blamed rebels who have been fighting for decades against Indian rule in the region.
In 2019, New Delhi stripped Kashmir of its special status as a semi-autonomous region with a separate constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs. The federal government also reduced the status of the former state and divided it into two union territories, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, the first time in the history of India that the statehood of a territory was reduced to a Union Territory. Was given.
India and Pakistan each administer a portion of Kashmir, but both claim the entire region. Militants in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s regime since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the region under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India says that the insurgency in Kashmir is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies this charge and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a military standoff in Ladakh since 2020, while Beijing and New Delhi agreed to patrol the disputed areas in October. Both countries have deployed thousands of troops along with artillery, tanks and fighter jets along their border.