No exchange of railway carriages with India

Pakistani officials sent several letters to Indian counterparts to take the coaches back but they did not respond

LAHORE: Owing to the suspension of Samjhauta Express – a bi-weekly rail service started between Pakistan and India – railway carriages will not be exchanged between the two countries this year.

Sources say that around 10 railway carriages (bogies) belonging to the Indian Railways have been stuck in Wagah for the past nine months but the Indian authorities are not ready to take them back.

Railway carriages of the Samjhauta Express are exchanged between Pakistan and India in June every year. The Pakistani ones are used for six months, while the Indian ones are used for the remaining six months of the year (June 4 to December 4). However, Pakistani engines are to run the train throughout the year.

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When approached for a comment, officials of the Pakistan Railways said they wrote several letters to the Indian Railways concerning the return of the carriages, but they did not respond at all. They added that nine coaches belonging to a Pakistani freight train are also stuck in India since the suspension of the service, but since the Indians are no replying, no arrangements could be made to bring them back to Pakistan.

Started on July 22, 1976, under the Simla Agreement to improve people-to-people connect between the two countries, the train service ran from Lahore to Attari. Initially, the 936-seat train had a three-year contract. In July 1991, another agreement was signed between India and Pakistan and the service was resumed.

In May 1994, the schedule of the Samjhauta Express – according to which the train used to run on a daily basis – was changed and the train started a bi-weekly service. The train used to go from Lahore to Delhi but later its travel distance was reduced and Attari was made the last station.

From there onwards, passengers had to take local Indian trains to go to Delhi or other Indian cities. Groups of Sikhs from India regularly travelled to and from Pakistan using the service to visit their religious sites in Pakistan.

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With the suspension of the service, however, Sikh pilgrims have been compelled to travel on foot through the Wagah border.

Pakistan decided to halt the Samjhauta Express service on August 8, 2019, following the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution that rendered a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

“The Pakistani nation cannot sit idle when India is committing massive human rights violations in Kashmir,” Pakistan Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid had said at the time of suspending the service. “So being the railways’ minister, today I announce to close down the Samjhauta Express forever. As long as I am the railways’ minister, it will not operate.”

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Per sources, the Indian Ferozwala Railway officials had later requested Pakistan Railways to resume operation of the Samjhauta Express. However, Pakistan’s Ministry of Railways rejected the request and issued dispatches to divisional superintendents of Lahore and Karachi, directing them to keep the train services suspended for an indefinite time.

Apart from the Samjhauta Express, Pakistan also decided to halt the Thar Express which ran from Khokhrapar town in Thar, Pakistan, to India’s Munabao village located in the Rajasthan desert.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2020.