Modi inaugurates strategic railway project in Indian-administered Kashmir
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened one of the country's most ambitious railway projects, which will connect the Kashmir Valley to the vast Indian plains by train for the first time.
Dubbed by the government-operated Indian Railways as one of the most challenging tracks in the world, the 272-kilometre (169-mile) line begins in the garrison city of Udhampur in the Jammu region and runs through Indian-administered Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. The line ends in Baramulla, a town near the highly militarised Line of Control dividing the Himalayan region between India and Pakistan.
The Indian government has pegged the total project cost at about $5bn.
The railway line travels through 36 tunnels and over 943 bridges and will facilitate the movement of people and goods, as well as troops, that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and by air.
One of the project's highlights is a 1,315-metre-long (4,314-foot) steel and concrete bridge above the Chenab River connecting two mountains with an arch 359 metres (1,177 feet) above the water. Indian Railways has compared its height with the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which stands 330 metres (1,082 feet), and said the bridge is built to last 120 years and endure extreme weather, including wind speeds up to 260 km/h (161mph).
Modi visited the Chenab bridge on Friday with tight security, waving an Indian tri-colour flag before boarding a test train that passed through picturesque mountains and tunnels to reach an inauguration ceremony for another high-elevation bridge named Anji.
The railway 'ensures all weather connectivity' and will 'boost spiritual tourism and create livelihood opportunities', Modi said.
The prime minister also helped launch a pair of new trains called 'Vande Bharat' that will halve the travel time between Srinagar and the town of Katra in the Jammu region to about three hours from the usual six to seven hours by road.
Modi's visit to Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday is his first since a military conflict between India and Pakistan brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war last month when the countries fired missiles and drones at each other.
The conflict was triggered after a shooting attack in late April that left 26 men, mostly Hindu tourists, dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for supporting the attackers, a charge Islamabad denied.
India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
Armed groups in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir armed groups are backed by Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.
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Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Amid US-Pakistan thaw, two key challenges: Iran and China
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has held an unprecedented one-on-one meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House, where the two leaders spoke for more than two hours, according to the Pakistani military. In a statement issued on Thursday by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military's media wing, the meeting, originally scheduled for one hour, was held in the Cabinet Room over lunch and then continued in the Oval Office. After Wednesday's meeting, the ISPR said, Munir expressed 'deep appreciation' for Trump's efforts in facilitating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a four-day conflict in May between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. According to the ISPR, Trump welcomed Pakistan's cooperation against 'terrorism'. While the White House did not release any statement on the meeting, which was held behind closed doors and without news media photo opportunities, Trump spoke to reporters briefly after his talks with Munir. He thanked the army chief and said he was 'honoured to meet him'. Yet amid the bonhomie and the promise of a sharp uptick in relations after years of tension between Washington and Islamabad, Trump also referred to the ongoing military conflict between Israel and Iran, which the US president has said his country might join. The Pakistanis, Trump said, 'know Iran very well, better than most', adding that they are 'not happy'. For Pakistan, analysts said, that comment underscored how the reset in ties with the US that Islamabad desperately seeks will be tested by two key challenges. Iran and the current crisis with Israel will force Pakistan into a diplomatic balancing act, they said. And Islamabad's close relations with China could similarly pull Pakistan in conflicting directions. According to the ISPR, Munir spoke to Trump about a range of areas where the two nations could strengthen cooperation, including 'economic development, mines and minerals, artificial intelligence, energy, cryptocurrency, and emerging technologies'. But the Pakistani military conceded that the two leaders also held 'detailed discussions' on the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel with both Munir and Trump – according to Islamabad – emphasising the need for a peaceful resolution. Munir was accompanied by Pakistan's national security adviser, Lieutenant General Asim Malik, who also heads the country's premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). On the American side, Trump was joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the president's top negotiator in the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. Marvin Weinbaum, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), said the lack of a media presence during the lunch could be interpreted as suggesting that 'the nature of the conversation was such that neither party wanted photo opportunities'. Weinbaum told Al Jazeera that neither side likely wanted to reveal much about 'what was discussed, though my read is it was perhaps the US wanting to know about Pakistan's role on what follows in Iran during this ongoing situation'. Later on Wednesday evening, Munir attended a dinner hosted by the Pakistani embassy with nearly three dozen figures from think tanks, policy institutions and diplomatic circles. Al Jazeera spoke to several participants, who all requested anonymity to discuss what Munir said at the dinner. One participant said Munir did not divulge specifics from his meeting with Trump but he remarked that the conversation was 'fantastic and could not have gone any better'. Munir added, according to this person, that Pakistan's relations with the previous administration of President Joe Biden had been 'among the worst' historically. Another attendee told Al Jazeera that Munir said the US 'knows what it needs to do regarding Iran' and reiterated that Pakistan's view is that 'every conflict is resolvable through dialogue and diplomacy'. For the moment, experts said, the meeting represents a major gain for Pakistan in its bid to improve ties with the US. Pakistan has been a close US ally since gaining independence in 1947. They worked closely together in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979 and then again after the US invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks. While the US has provided more than $30bn in aid in the last two decades to Pakistan, it has repeatedly accused Islamabad of 'duplicity' and of not being a reliable security partner. Pakistan, in turn, has argued that Washington constantly demands it 'do more' without fully acknowledging the losses and instability Pakistan has suffered due to regional violence. Elizabeth Threlkeld, director of the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, said Munir's visit marks a 'significant upswing' in US-Pakistan ties under the Trump administration. 'Given President Trump's central role in shaping foreign policy and his preference for personal relationships, this visit has allowed Field Marshal Munir to solidify a rapport built during the recent crisis,' she told Al Jazeera. Sahar Khan, a Washington, DC-based security policy expert, said that while the meeting was significant, it doesn't mean the two countries are 'now friends'. However, it does indicate a 'thaw in the relationship'. She added that although Trump is unpredictable, Pakistan should consider striking a deal with him to prevent unrealistic demands regarding regional issues. 'For now, Munir's message to the Trump administration is, take the time to understand Pakistan and stop viewing it through the lens of India, China or Afghanistan,' she said. Making that message stick, though, won't be easy, analysts said. China remains Pakistan's most critical partner, with whom it enjoys deep economic, strategic and military ties. But simultaneously, over the past three decades, Beijing's rise as a global superpower has made it Washington's principal rival. Muhammad Faisal, a South Asia security researcher and China expert at the University of Technology in Sydney, said managing ties with both powers will test Islamabad's commitment to a policy of 'no-camp politics'. China has invested $62bn in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a large infrastructure project connecting western China to the Arabian Sea via Pakistan. On the military front, Pakistan procures more than 80 percent of its weaponry from China, and some of those products, particularly Chinese jets and missiles, showcased their worth in the recent conflict with India. 'In the long run, both [China and the US] are crucial for Pakistan in their own right,' Faisal told Al Jazeera. And while the US and China might each want Islamabad on their side, the fact that Pakistan is sought after by both has its own advantage. It 'gives Islamabad considerable diplomatic space to expand cooperation with both Beijing and Washington', he said. Iran, currently under an intense Israeli assault that has targeted key infrastructure and senior military and nuclear figures, presents another sensitive challenge for Pakistan. Analysts argued that Pakistan's proximity and ties to Tehran position it as a potential mediator between the US and Iran. 'It is in Pakistan's interest to play a mediating role. It cannot afford another adversary on its western border, given its internal challenges,' Khan said. Last month, Munir travelled to Iran along with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. During the visit, he met Major General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of General Staff of the Iranian military. In the first wave of strikes by Israel on Friday, Bagheri was one of the several military officials who were killed. Since the Israeli strikes began, Pakistan has strongly defended Iran's right to self-defence, describing the Israeli strikes as violations of Iran's territorial sovereignty and calling them 'blatant provocations'. Home to nearly 250 million people, Pakistan has a significant Shia minority – between 15 percent and 20 percent of the population – who look to Iran for religious leadership. Faisal noted that these demographic and geographic realities would constrain Pakistan's public support for any US military intervention. 'Islamabad can continue to call for diplomacy and cessation of hostilities to contain the conflict. As a neighbour, instability in Iran isn't in Pakistan's interest,' he said. At the same time, Faisal added, 'a spike in sectarian tensions [in Pakistan] can test internal security. Thus, Islamabad will be wary of pro-American public posturing.'
Qatar Tribune
2 days ago
- Qatar Tribune
India's Modi tells Trump there was no US mediation in Pakistan truce
new DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear to United States President Donald Trump that a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a four-day conflict in May was achieved through talks between the two militaries and not US mediation, a top diplomat in New Delhi said. 'PM Modi told President Trump clearly that during this period, there was no talk at any stage on subjects like India-US trade deal or US mediation between India and Pakistan,' Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in a press statement on Wednesday. 'Talks for ceasing military action happened directly between India and Pakistan through existing military channels, and on the insistence of Pakistan. Prime Minister Modi emphasised that India has not accepted mediation in the past and will never do,' he said. Misri said the two leaders spoke over the phone late on Tuesday on Trump's insistence after the two leaders were unable to meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, which Modi attended as a guest. The call lasted 35 minutes. Trump had said last month that the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours agreed to the ceasefire after talks mediated by the US, and that the hostilities ended after he urged the countries to focus on trade instead of war. There was no immediate comment from the White House on the Modi-Trump call. (Agencies)
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
India-Pakistan matches confirmed at ICC Women's World Cups in 2025 and 2026
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