Kuwait Times

New tunnel opens in Kashmir for travel

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday opened an 11kilomete­r tunnel through the Himalayan terrain to help ease travel on a highway linking the troubled Kashmir Valley with the rest of India. Modi drove in an open jeep through the all-weather route, which is expected to help trade and tourism in the region. The highway is blocked sometimes for hours and even days due to heavy snow, monsoon rains and landslides. It took engineers six years to build the tunnel, which cost 25 billion rupees ($382 million).

However, separatist leaders fighting for the region’s independen­ce from India or its merger with neighborin­g Pakistan shut businesses and public transport in the region yesterday and said the constructi­on of tunnels and roads would not succeed in appeasing them. Kashmir is a “political issue and not a problem related to governance, economic packages, incentives or law and order,” they said in a joint statement issued on Friday.

They said Modi was visiting the state at a time when the situation was “extremely gloomy.”Modi addressed a rally of thousands of people in the town of Udhampur and urged the youth of Kashmir to choose between “terrorism and tourism.” He said decades of insurgency had caused bloodshed and hit tourism, a mainstay of the region. The Indian portion of Kashmir is popular with tourists for its lakes, mountains, ski slopes, gardens and religious sites.

Modi promised to boost the region’s tourism infrastruc­ture, saying that the new tunnel would ensure that tourists were not stranded because of bad weather. Jitendra Singh, a minister in Modi’s government from the region, said the connectivi­ty through the tunnel would cut down travel time. “It is an alternativ­e to the highway, which gets closed during snow and rain. It will boost trade and increase revenue in the state,” Singh said.

Most people in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir favor its independen­ce or a merger with Pakistan, which also administer­s a part of the territory across a heavily militarize­d de facto border through the mountains. Since 1989, at least 70,000 people have been killed in an armed uprising and ensuing Indian military crackdown. The rebel groups have largely been suppressed by Indian troops in recent years, and resistance is now principall­y expressed through street protests. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independen­ce from British colonialis­ts in 1947. — AP

 ?? — AP ?? SRINAGAR: An Indian paramilita­ry soldier patrols at a closed market during a strike.
— AP SRINAGAR: An Indian paramilita­ry soldier patrols at a closed market during a strike.

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