New Delhi: By connecting Kashmir to the rest of India by rail, India has completed a dream dating back to the “colonial-era”, reports Showkat Nanda in The New York Times following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration of the first Vande Bharat Express connecting Jammu to Kashmir Friday.
The new service not only connects Jammu to Kashmir via a rail link but also Kashmir to the rest of India for the first time.
“This will change everything,” Naveed Hassan, a 28-year-old entrepreneur, tells NYT. “Tourists can come directly from Delhi now. Our businesses will grow.”
It adds that “many Kashmiris” continue to see the move as part of the central government’s effort to “entrench control”.
“But many other Kashmiris say that the government has glossed over the rail line’s limitations. Passengers will face detours for security checks, making journeys more arduous, and freight carriages will not be part of the initial rollout because terminals have yet to be built,” states the report.
The Associated Press covers PM Modi’s inauguration of the project, which also includes the 1,315-meter Chenab Bridge.
It said Modi had travelled to Kashmir Friday for the first time since tensions spiralled between India and Pakistan last month. “Addressing a public rally in Katra, Modi lashed out at Pakistan and alleged Islamabad was behind the (Pahalgam) massacre. He said the attack was primarily aimed at Kashmir’s flourishing tourism industry and meant to fuel communal violence,” the report states.
“I promise you, I won’t let developmental activities stop in Kashmir,” Modi said.
Financial Times reports that 32 “defunct” coal mines are due to be reopened by Coal India, “the world’s largest coal producing company”–– because renewables alone cannot suffice in order to meet the country’s growing energy demand.
“The mines were previously shut down because they were uneconomical, owing to reliance on ‘manual mining’ and ‘small machines’, P.M. Prasad, chair of Coal India, says in an interview with FT.
In December, India’s coal ministry announced plans to bring closed mines back on line to increase production and reduce imports,” adds the report.
The Guardian reports that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is receiving flak for inviting PM Modi to Alberta for the G7 Summit. In turn, he has defended his decision, saying it was important to invite the leader of the world’s “fifth-largest economy”.
“For Sikhs in Canada, this is a betrayal, not just of our community, but of core Canadian values. Prime Minister Carney’s decision to invite Narendra Modi, while India continues to deny any role in the assassination of Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar and refuses to cooperate with Canadian authorities, is both shameful and dangerous,” says a statement by World Sikh Organisation, cited in the report.
Bloomberg looks at India’s global effort to control the narrative around Operation Sindoor by zeroing in on Member of Parliament and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.
“Tharoor’s group met with (US) Vice President JD Vance, several lawmakers, and State Department officials, as well as think tank representatives in the US capital. He said he had received messages of ‘total solidarity’. Pakistan has separately sent delegations to defend its position, with the rival campaigns unfolding just weeks after the two countries came close to all-out war following days of intense drone and air strikes, before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10,” notes the report.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)