Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday inaugurated the first-ever train service in troubled Jammu and Kashmir as the region was tense amid a shutdown and protests called by separatist leaders that saw two people killed and 75 injured.
Singh, accompanied by ruling United Progressive Alliance Chairwoman Sonia Gandhi and other senior officials, flagged off the flower-bedecked train from the Nowgam railway station near the state’s summer capital Srinagar.
The train, launched 10 years after the project was commissioned, carried schoolchildren.
Initially it will run from northern Budgam district south to Anantnag, covering a distance of 66km.
In later phases, the project, which is estimated to cost US$2.3 billion, will cover 116km and connect Kashmir to the rest of India.
Officials said the project took nearly a decade to build as it had to face the challenges of engineering in the tough mountainous terrain as well as separatist violence.
“The new train network will usher in peace and prosperity in Kashmir,” Indian Railway Minister Lalu Prasad told reporters.
Meanwhile, there was a complete shutdown in Srinagar as markets, educational institutions and banks remained closed in response to the separatists’ strike call.
Protestors took to the streets in Srinagar and Baramulla town on Friday soon after Singh inaugurated a 450-megawatt hydro-electric power project in the state.
“By late Friday evening two people were killed and 75 people including 35 security personnel were injured when protestors clashed with security forces,” a local police officer said.
“The two protestors were killed in Srinagar when police fired to disperse angry mobs,” he said.
Singh, who was on a two-day visit to the region, renewed the Indian federal government’s offer for talks aimed at ending the separatist violence.
“The government will welcome dialogue with all sections of people,” Singh said at a press conference on Friday.
“This also includes those who have so far opted to stay out of the political process,” he said, referring to the separatist Hurriyat Conference.
Picturesque Kashmir is at the heart of a long conflict between India and Pakistan, who have fought two wars over the region since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
Both countries administer parts of Kashmir separately but claim the region in its entirety. India alleges militants demanding a separate homeland for Kashmir are trained in Pakistan.
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