Posted on 16-1-2004

India-Pakistan rail link re-opened

India and Pakistan resumed cross-border rail services today, ending a two-year freeze imposed when the nuclear-armed rivals were on the brink of war.

Amid tight security, the Samjhauta Express headed from the Pakistani city of Lahore to New Delhi, with other trains headed the opposite direction. Passengers threw rose petals on Indian border guards riding alongside the Samjhauta Express as it entered India.

Many passengers were members of families who have relatives on both sides of the border.

In both cases, the trains stopped at the Indian border town of Attari to make connections and immigration checks.

Haji Jammu Khan, a 100-year-old man from India-held Jammu and Kashmir state said he was fulfilling his last wish to visit an Islamic holy shrine and thanked Indian and Pakistani political leaders for agreeing to resume the service.

The return of train service comes little more than two weeks after commercial air flights were also restarted, part of confidence-building measures that fuelled a thaw allowing the leaders of India and Pakistan last week to agree to a historic peace dialogue.

Passengers like Shamma Parveen, a 24-year-old Indian woman married to a Pakistani, who was traveling to India to see her mother, could barely contain their excitement.

"Right after I stepped into the train, I felt as if I had hugged my mother," she said.

At Attari, Indian police were on the lookout for terrorists and smugglers. Indian passengers who had arrived before dawn and huddled in blankets against the freezing temperatures were subjected to body and baggage searches as police on horseback patrolled the station.

The freshly painted Attari Express that brought them from the Old Delhi railway station was only a quarter full, largely due to problems with obtaining visas and selling tickets, the Times of India reported.

The twice-weekly train service is popular among Indian and Pakistani families separated when the two nations gained independence from Britain in 1947.

The link was suspended 1 Januaary, 2002, amid rising tensions after Islamic militants attacked India's Parliament. India accused Pakistan of backing the militants and the two countries nearly went to war. Pakistan denied involvement.