{"id":127280,"date":"2026-06-09T18:37:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=127280"},"modified":"2026-06-09T18:37:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:37:30","slug":"india-nears-completion-of-strategic-himalayan-tunnel-near-china-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/","title":{"rendered":"India nears completion of strategic Himalayan tunnel near China border"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)-  Indian engineers broke through the final rock section in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1649309\">strategic Zojila tunnel<\/a>\u00a0through a Himalayan mountain on Tuesday, a milestone in providing all-weather access to the frontier\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1945381\">Ladakh region<\/a>\u00a0with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India and China, the world\u2019s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ties have thawed since a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1564042\">2020 border clash<\/a>, but their 3,500-kilometre frontier has been a perennial source of tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 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\u2019s sweltering lowland plains to the soaring icy border zones.People ride a car through the Zojila tunnel, India\u2019s longest road tunnel project connecting Jammu and Kashmir with the Ladakh region, in Minamarg on June 9, 2026. \u2014AFP<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is not just a tunnel but a lifeline,\u201d said India\u2019s 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\u2019s key city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At present, road travel between the cities is blocked during winter due to heavy snowfall, which can often rise higher than a truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Diggers 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 3,000 workers have been involved since 2020 in excavating the tunnel, which passes beneath the 3,528-metre Zojila Pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gadkari pressed a button to remotely trigger the final blast, connecting tunnels dug from both sides and creating what will be India\u2019s longest road tunnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have worked for this tunnel day and night in challenging weather conditions, and completed it without any accident,\u201d project engineer Manmohan Singh told&nbsp;<em>AFP<\/em>.Mediapersons walk at the Zojila tunnel, India\u2019s longest road tunnel project connecting Jammu and Kashmir state with the Ladakh region on June 9, 2026. \u2014AFP<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prime Minister Narendra Modi&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1915900\/modi-opens-strategic-railway-line-in-held-kashmir\">opened the railway route<\/a>&nbsp;in June 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 272-kilometre railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army\u2019s northern command, and runs through Srinagar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Muslim-majority&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2005619\">Kashmir<\/a>&nbsp;has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and both claim the Himalayan territory in full.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- Indian engineers broke through the final rock section in the\u00a0strategic Zojila tunnel\u00a0through a Himalayan mountain on Tuesday, a milestone in providing all-weather access to the frontier\u00a0Ladakh region\u00a0with China. India and China, the world\u2019s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia. Ties have thawed since a&nbsp;2020 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>India nears completion of strategic Himalayan tunnel near China border - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"India nears completion of strategic Himalayan tunnel near China border - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web desk(National Times)- Indian engineers broke through the final rock section in the\u00a0strategic Zojila tunnel\u00a0through a Himalayan mountain on Tuesday, a milestone in providing all-weather access to the frontier\u00a0Ladakh region\u00a0with China. India and China, the world\u2019s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia. Ties have thawed since a&nbsp;2020 [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-09T13:37:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-09T13:37:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-17-3.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/\",\"name\":\"India nears completion of strategic Himalayan tunnel near China border - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-17-3.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-09T13:37:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-09T13:37:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-17-3.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-17-3.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"India nears completion of strategic Himalayan tunnel near China border\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"India nears completion of strategic Himalayan tunnel near China border - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127280\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"India nears completion of strategic Himalayan tunnel near China border - Nation","og_description":"Web desk(National Times)- Indian engineers broke through the final rock section in the\u00a0strategic Zojila tunnel\u00a0through a Himalayan mountain on Tuesday, a milestone in providing all-weather access to the frontier\u00a0Ladakh region\u00a0with China. 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