New India-Pakistan
train set to unite broken bonds
Munabao, Reuters:
India and Pakistan are putting the finishing touches to a
New rail
link between the two countries, 40 years after Pakistani fighter jets bombed the
tracks as a train darted across a desert
border crossing.
India and Pakistan are putting the finishing touches to a new rail link between the two countries, 40 years after Pakistani fighter jets bombed the tracks as a train darted across a desert border crossing.
The passenger train, connecting Munabao in Rajasthan and Khokrapar, a border village in Pakistan's Sindh province, is expected to run again from next month as the old rivals open another transport link as part of a slow peace process.
At Munabao, a small town known mainly as the last stop for the train to Pakistan, India has built a gleaming new station and workers are rushing to spruce up the terminal ahead of the inauguration.
A date for the launch is yet to be set, but Indian officials said they would be ready to start the service by Jan. 1.
Locals are elated over the prospect of being able to meet friends and relatives separated from them after India was partitioned in 1947 and Pakistan created.
"I can visit my ancestral house across the border and meet relatives I've never met," said Rajendra Panwar, a villager in the Munabao area whose ancestors were from Khokrapar.
A train already links Indian Punjab with Pakistani Punjab, while a bus runs between New Delhi and Lahore in Pakistan and also across the heavily-militarised frontier in Kashmir.
Another bus service is likely to start soon between the neighbours who have gone to war three times -- twice over disputed Kashmir -- and were on the brink of another war in 2002 before launching the latest peace bid.
Many in Munabao remember the day in 1965 when Pakistani jets came zooming in, dropping bombs on the railway tracks and destroying villages.
"We were forced to vacate our houses and take shelter in camps in nearby villages," said Fateh Singh Dhana, a retired soldier. "Our houses were razed to the ground."
Ijraj Dhana, whose brothers live across the border, recalled the days she could "just walk across the border" to meet them. "Now with the fencing and heavy security, we are not allowed to go towards the border. The rail link might change this," she said.
Indian
security officials said the train would be heavily guarded. A 12-ft high fence is being erected parallel to the tracks from Munabao to the frontier, a few miles away.
Security posts have been built around the station and Border Security Force (BSF) jeeps would accompany the train from Munabao to the frontier to prevent smuggling or attacks en route, officials said.
"Unlike other borders, the Rajasthan border has been peaceful due to fencing," senior BSF official Prem Mohan Das said. "The challenge will be to keep an eye on infiltrators who will try to make their way into India on the train."
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