India’s Modi opens strategic railway in contested ‘crown jewel’ Kashmir

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first visit to Kashmir on Friday since a conflict with archrival Pakistan, opening a strategic railway line to the contested region he called “the crown jewel of India.”

Modi launched a string of projects worth billions of dollars for the divided Muslim-majority territory, the center of bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought a four-day conflict last month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed to on May 10.