Modi opens Chenab bridge
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first visit to the Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Friday since a conflict with arch-rival Pakistan, opening a strategic railway line to the contested region he called "the crown jewel of India".
"Pakistan will never forget... its shameful loss," the Hindu nationalist premier told crowds a month since India launched strikes on its neighbour after an attack on tourists in Kashmir.
"Friends, today's event is a grand festival of India's unity and firm resolve," Modi said after striding across the soaring bridge to formally launch it for rail traffic.
"This is a symbol and celebration of rising India," he said of the Chenab Bridge which connects two mountains.
New Delhi calls the Chenab span the "world's highest railway arch bridge", sitting 359 metres (1,117 feet) above a river.
While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.
The new route will facilitate the movement of people and goods, as well as troops, that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and by air. Around 150 people protested against the project on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad in Azad jammu and Kashmir.
"We want to tell India that building bridges and laying roads in the name of development will not make the people of Kashmir give up their demand for freedom," said Azir Ahmad Ghazali, who organised the rally attended by Kashmiris who fled unrest on the Indian side in the 1990s.
"In clear and unequivocal terms, we want to say to the Indian government that the people of Kashmir have never accepted India's forced rule."
Modi also announced further government financial support for families whose relatives were killed, or whose homes were damaged, during the brief conflict --- mainly in shelling along the Line of Control. "Their troubles are our troubles," Modi said.
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