MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has constituted a seven-member committee, comprising cabinet members and civil servants, to “conceive, oversee and supervise” the Shounter Tunnel project, envisaging a connection between AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) through a land route.

According to a notification issued by the AJK Services and General Administration Department, the construction of the 12.6-kilometre-long Shounter Tunnel was of utmost necessity for the economies and well-being of communities living in both territories.

On completion, the tunnel would give the national capital (Islamabad) the shortest as well as easy road access to GB throughout the year in addition to boosting tourism, businesses and livelihoods of both populations, the notification read, adding, both the chief minister of GB and the prime minister of AJK had agreed to initiate combined efforts to make this project of enormous benefits a reality.

The committee constituted by the AJK government includes Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Deewan Ali Khan Chughtai (chairman), Minister for Planning and Development Chaudhry Mohammad Rasheed, Minister for Communication and Works Chaudhry Azhar Sadiq, Minister for Law and Tourism Faheem Akhtar Rabbani, chief secretary and secretaries for P&D and C&W.

The committee would work in close liaison with a similar counterpart committee constituted by the GB government, the federal and GB governments and federal ministries and divisions concerned, the notification stated, adding that it would also look into the possibility of a joint venture (JV) amongst the three governments.

The committee was also authorised to include, co-opt or consult anyone in pursuance of its objectives and firm up any additional terms of reference in furtherance of the desired goal, the notification concluded.

It may be recalled that people in AJK and GB have long been expressing their desire to connect both regions by land not only for their benefit but also for the benefit of the entire country.

In April 2017, the National Highways Authority (NHA) had also gotten an Environment Impact Assessment report of the project prepared to meet a legal requirement in accordance with the AJK Environmental Protection Act, 2000.

At a joint presser in Muzaffarabad in September last year, AJK premier Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and GB Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid had informed the media that they had agreed among other things to take different measures to strengthen ties between both areas, including the construction of the Shounter Tunnel.

On Thursday, both leaders held another joint press conference in Kashmir House Islamabad, where they announced that a bus service between AJK and GB regions would be launched on March 23.

The GB CM had said on the occasion that his government had issued a tender notice to invite bids for the construction of a 50-kilometre-long road on his side of the proposed Shounter Tunnel.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2023