India expresses concern over Sino-Pak rail link
India has expressed “concern” over regional power China’s plans to establish a rail link with friendly neighbour...
India has expressed “concern” over regional power China’s plans to establish a rail link with friendly neighbour Pakistan through the Karakoram ranges, Online news agency reported on Wednesday.
“It is definitely a matter of concern [for India]. But we are taking counter measures and we are making our own preparations,” Indian State Minister for Defence MM Pallam Raju told reporters in New Delhi.
According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), he was responding to a question on Chinese plans to build the rail link to Pakistan and reach the Arabian Sea via Gilgit-Baltistan region in Azad Kashmir.
Raju said that both China and Pakistan had made it “very apparent” that they were “working closely together and cooperating closely” on defence and strategic issues.
China has already built a rail line up to the Indian borders along the Tibetan plateau and now the plan is to have a rail link to Pakistan and reach the Arabian Sea. Media reports have suggested that a memorandum of understanding for the rail link will be signed between Beijing and Islamabad soon.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Abdul Basit told The Express Tribune that India has no locus in this matter as this was a bilateral issue, which did not concern India
Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2010.
“It is definitely a matter of concern [for India]. But we are taking counter measures and we are making our own preparations,” Indian State Minister for Defence MM Pallam Raju told reporters in New Delhi.
According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), he was responding to a question on Chinese plans to build the rail link to Pakistan and reach the Arabian Sea via Gilgit-Baltistan region in Azad Kashmir.
Raju said that both China and Pakistan had made it “very apparent” that they were “working closely together and cooperating closely” on defence and strategic issues.
China has already built a rail line up to the Indian borders along the Tibetan plateau and now the plan is to have a rail link to Pakistan and reach the Arabian Sea. Media reports have suggested that a memorandum of understanding for the rail link will be signed between Beijing and Islamabad soon.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Abdul Basit told The Express Tribune that India has no locus in this matter as this was a bilateral issue, which did not concern India
Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2010.