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  India   All India  02 Feb 2019  March in Kargil to demand restart of cross-LoC road

March in Kargil to demand restart of cross-LoC road

THE ASIAN AGE. | YUSUF JAMEEL
Published : Feb 2, 2019, 1:49 am IST
Updated : Feb 2, 2019, 1:49 am IST

The road from Skardu to Kargil was part of the ancient Silk Route.

Thousands of people on Friday marched on the roads of Kargil to demand reopening of traditional cross-LoC Kargil-Skardu route on “humanitarian grounds”.
 Thousands of people on Friday marched on the roads of Kargil to demand reopening of traditional cross-LoC Kargil-Skardu route on “humanitarian grounds”.

SRINAGAR: Ahead of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s, visit of Jammu and Kashmir, thousands of people on Friday marched along the streets of Kargil and its neighbourhood to demand reopening of Kargil-Skardu and other cross-LoC routes in the landlocked region of Ladakh “on humanitarian grounds”.

The Kargil-Skardu road connects Jammu and Kashmir’s Kargil region with Skardu area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of undivided Himalayan state presently under Pakistan’s direct control.

 The road from Skardu to Kargil was part of the ancient Silk Route. The 1949 UN-called ceasefire which ended the first India-Pakistan war on Kashmir resulted in fragmenting Ladakh and Baltistan. The 126-km stretch of the road on the other side of the Line of Contro (LoC) is part of the provincial highway of Gilgit-Baltistan linking Skardu with Kharmang. The original road continued on to Kargil from Kharmang parallel to the Shingo River but is closed for the past seven decades. Part of the road on the Indian side of the de facto border is now in India’s N1.

The divided families of the region have been demanding reopening of the Kargil-Skardu road on the pattern of Uri- Chakoti and Chakan da Bagh – Rawlakote cross-LoC routes for trade and travel.

Tags: narendra modi, kargil-skardu, shingo river