Home > News Archive > China plans rail link to Pakistan

China plans rail link to Pakistan

Times Now

Map showing China, India and Pakistan. China’s plans to have a rail link with Pakistan through the Karakoram ranges. The red spot is controlled by China but claimed by India.Unknown

Alarm bells have started ringing in India over a proposed rail link that will connect China with Pakistan through Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

China is in advanced stages of discussions with Pakistan over the 700 km rail link and it is believed that details will be finalised during the current visit of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to China. What is even more worrisome for India is that fact that China and Pakistan have even discussed taking the rail link right upto the Arabian Sea in Pakistan.

In case an MoU is signed during the visit, Chinese companies will start exploring the engineering aspect of the project.

According to plans of the two countries, Pakistan and China will be responsible for laying of tracks in their own territories.

While India has already expressed displeasure at the development, China claims the link is necessary to clamp down on Chinese Islamist terrorists that operate out of Pakistan.

The 700 km rail link has been planned between Kashgar in China and Havelian in Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain ranges and the 4000 metre high Khunjareb pass in Pakistan.

Given the fact that the rail link will pass through PoK, India that claims sovereignty over all of Jammu & Kashmir has already expressed its reservations saying it cannot accept Chinese projects especially in parts of J&K under Pakistan’s control.

China’s other projects

This is not the first time that China has tried to encircle India with its projects.

- During the 1970s, it built the Karakoram highway between East Turkistan (Ch: Xinjiang) and northern Pakistan.

- Then, the railroad that connected the rest of China to TIbet’s capital city Lhasa. China now wants to extend this railroad right up to Nepal.

- And now, the 700 km rail link from Kashgar in East Turkistan province to Havelian near Rawalpindi in northern Pakistan through Karakoram in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

Copyright © 2010 TimesNow.tv

Published in Times Now