SRINAGAR: On Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially opened a vital road tunnel through the Himalayas, advancing all-weather access northward into disputed high-altitude border areas with Pakistan and China.
Part of a larger infrastructure push in border zones, the Z-Morh or Sonmarg tunnel is 6.4 km long and runs beneath a dangerous mountain pass that is snow-covered for four to six months of the year.
It serves as a bridge to open the Srinagar-Leh Highway year-round and connects Ladakh and India-held Kashmir.
After cutting the ribbon on the $313 million project, which took ten years to build, Modi declared, “With the opening of the tunnel here, connectivity will significantly improve.” He was wearing a jacket to protect himself from the bitter cold.
The two most populous countries in the world, China and India, are fierce competitors vying for geopolitical dominance in South Asia, and their 3,500-kilometer shared border has long been a source of hostility. Forces from both sides now engage in combat throughout disputed high-altitude borders after their troops battled in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.
But in October, just before Chinese President Xi Jinping and Modi had their first formal meeting in five years, Beijing and New Delhi agreed on patrols in disputed areas.
The communications ministry reports that the 13km Zojila tunnel, another tunnel along the same route, is more than halfway finished and expected to open in 2026.
Additionally, India constructed the world’s tallest railway bridge, the Chenab Rail Bridge, as part of a $3.9 billion railway line that connects occupied Kashmir and the lowland plains for the first time.
The Indian army’s northern command headquarters, the garrison city of Udhampur, is where the 272 km railway starts. It then passes via Srinagar.
