• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Pakistan, India resume train service after 40 years

Posted on: Saturday, 18 February 2006, 01:58 CST

By Aamir Ashraf

ZERO POINT, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan and India resumed a train service across the Thar desert on Saturday, 40 years after it was suspended following the second of the three wars between the two South Asian rivals.

Sitting on camels, paramilitary troops patrolled the desert as the train carrying around 250 passengers arrived at Pakistan's southern border village of Khokhropar for its onward journey to Munabao in India's Rajasthan state.

Many passengers burst into tears and shouted "Long Live Pak-India friendship" as the Thar Express halted at Zero Point, the last stop on the Pakistani side of the border.

Dancers wearing traditional dresses danced to the beat of drums to greet the train, decorated with colorful buntings.

"I was 13 years old when I came here. Now I am going to my home for the first time after 58 years," said Mohammad Ali Azhar, whose parents migrated to Pakistan to escape bloodshed that killed hundreds of thousands of people following partition of the sub-continent in 1947.

"WE BELONG TO THIS DESERT"

Ladhi Singh Sodho, a Hindu Pakistani engineer, was making his first visit to his in-laws since he and his wife married in 1992.

"We belong to this desert. This sand does not distinguish between Hindu and Muslim. This is sand of my own people," he said, his voice filled with emotion.

"Resumption of the Thar train and other such steps will definitely promote love and friendship between the two countries."

Up to 12,000 people bade farewell to the train when it stopped at the southern Pakistani city of Hyderabad on Friday night on its way to Khokhropar.

The service between Khokhropar and Munabao was discontinued during the 1965 India-Pakistan war over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

The service will be operated using a Pakistani train for the first six months and an Indian train for the subsequent six months.

It will be the second rail link established between the nuclear-armed rivals since they launched a peace process two years ago after they went to the brink of a fourth war.

A train service linking India's Punjab state with Pakistani Punjab was restored in 2004.

Last month, the two countries launched a third cross-border bus service.

While confidence-building measures undertaken by the two countries have strengthened transport, cultural, sporting and commercial links since starting the peace process, they have made little progress on Kashmir, cause of two of their three wars since 1947.

Pakistan accuses India of dragging its feet in resolving the dispute while New Delhi says Islamabad is not doing enough to rein in Islamist militants fighting its rule in the Muslim-majority region.

Kashmir is divided between India, Pakistan and China. India says the Himalayan region is an integral part of its territory and is not interested in redrawing its borders, while Islamic Pakistan wants to find a solution that includes all Kashmiris.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category