REASI: Soaring high across a valley in the rugged Himalayas, a newly finished bridge will soon help India entrench control of disputed Kashmir and meet a growing strategic threat from Beijing.
The Chenab Rail Bridge, the highest of its kind in the world, has sparked concern among many in a territory with a long history of opposing Indian rule, already home to a permanent garrison of more over 500,000 soldiers. India’s military brass claim the strategic benefits of the bridge to India cannot be understated.
Noor Ahmad Baba, a politics professor at the Central University of Kashmir said that the new bridge “will facilitate the movement of military personnel coming and going in larger numbers than was previously possible. That has prompted unease among Kashmiris who believe easier access will bring an increase of outsiders coming to buy land and settle in the occupied territory.
Commenting over the matter, historian Sidiq Wahid told foreign media that the impact will be very negative if the intention is to browbeat the Kashmiri consciousness of its cultural, intellectual identity, and linguistic or to put muscular nationalism on exhibition. Earlier tight rules on land ownership were lifted after Modi’s Hindu-nationalist and extremist government cancelled Kashmir’s special status in 2019.
