India opens rail link to Kashmir in bid to bring a sense of unity
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Your support makes all the difference.India has opened the first stage of a spectacular railway that will connect Indian-administered Kashmir with the rest of the country.
India has opened the first stage of a spectacular railway that will connect Indian-administered Kashmir with the rest of the country.
When finished, the line will cross the vast barriers of the Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountains, include a tunnel six miles long through the mountains, and a mile-long bridge 1,300ft high over Chenab river. The first section, which does not even cross the higher mountains, already includes 158 bridges and 20 tunnels.
India is desperate to make Kashmir feel a part of India. Opening the first section, from Jammu to Udhampur, the Indian Prime Minister, Manmoan Singh said it was "yet another step to strengthen the relations between India and the people of Kashmir". Despite being ruled by India for more than 50 years, most Kashmiris do not view themselves as Indians. They refer to leaving their valley and heading south as "going to India".
Last week, the first bus service started between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir. India and Pakistan may be in the midst of their most fruitful peace talks in years, but they are still locked in rivalry over Kashmir. Although most Kashmiris want independence, India and Pakistan are unwilling to stop claiming Kashmir.
Last week Kashmiris were glued to televisions, watching the India-Pakistan cricket series. But in Indian Kashmir, they were all cheering on Pakistan.
Which is where the railway comes in for India. Few things have united the vast and disparate land of India as effectively as its extraordinary railways, built under British colonial rule. You can get almost anywhere in India by train, from Assam in the north-east to Kerala in the south.
To a large extent, the railway has given India a sense of unity. Now the government is hoping it can bring the same to Kashmir.
Part of Kashmiris' sense of isolation lies in the woeful infrastructure India has built there. The Kashmir Valley is connected to India by a road, and when it was blocked by snow this year the valley was cut off for days. Electricity was cut too, and Kashmir ran short of fuel for heating in its worst winter for decades.
But with daily killings, reports of Indian security forces torturing detainees, and thousands of Kashmiris disappearing after being detained, the chances are that it will take more than a train to win Kashmiri hearts and minds.
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