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  "path": "/news/2006369/india-nears-completion-of-strategic-himalayan-tunnel-near-china-border",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-09T12:24:58.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.dawn.com",
  "tags": [
    "World",
    "strategic Zojila tunnel",
    "Ladakh region",
    "2020 border clash",
    "opened the railway route",
    "Kashmir"
  ],
  "textContent": "Indian engineers broke through the final rock section in the strategic Zojila tunnel through a Himalayan mountain on Tuesday, a milestone in providing all-weather access to the frontier Ladakh region with China.\n\nIndia and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia.\n\nTies have thawed since a 2020 border clash, but their 3,500-kilometre frontier has been a perennial source of tension.\n\nThe tunnel forms part of a broader infrastructure push, creating a link with roads and railways that will allow trade, troops and supplies to move year-round from India’s sweltering lowland plains to the soaring icy border zones.\n\nPeople ride a car through the Zojila tunnel, India’s longest road tunnel project connecting Jammu and Kashmir with the Ladakh region, in Minamarg on June 9, 2026. —AFP\n\n“This is not just a tunnel but a lifeline,” said India’s minister of roads, Nitin Gadkari, during a breakthrough ceremony on Tuesday at the high-altitude tunnel, which is part of a route designed to rapidly improve connectivity between Srinagar, the main city in Indian occupied Kashmir, and Leh, Ladakh’s key city.\n\nAt present, road travel between the cities is blocked during winter due to heavy snowfall, which can often rise higher than a truck.\n\nDiggers cut through the final stretch of rock in a milestone in the creation of the 13.14-kilometre Zojila tunnel, which will connect two sides otherwise cut off by snow during the bitter winters.\n\nMore than 3,000 workers have been involved since 2020 in excavating the tunnel, which passes beneath the 3,528-metre Zojila Pass.\n\nGadkari pressed a button to remotely trigger the final blast, connecting tunnels dug from both sides and creating what will be India’s longest road tunnel.\n\n“We have worked for this tunnel day and night in challenging weather conditions, and completed it without any accident,” project engineer Manmohan Singh told _AFP_.\n\nMediapersons walk at the Zojila tunnel, India’s longest road tunnel project connecting Jammu and Kashmir state with the Ladakh region on June 9, 2026. —AFP\n\nThe project is part of a broader network of four major tunnels, including the 6.5-kilometre Sonamarg tunnel, a $712-million initiative expected to be fully operational by 2028.\n\nIndia has also developed a $3.9-billion railway line connecting the lowland plains with occupied Kashmir, including the construction of the Chenab Rail Bridge, currently the highest of its kind in the world.\n\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi opened the railway route in June 2025.\n\nThe 272-kilometre railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army’s northern command, and runs through Srinagar.\n\nMuslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and both claim the Himalayan territory in full.",
  "title": "India nears completion of strategic Himalayan tunnel near China border"
}