LAHORE, 16 January 2004 — To emotional scenes in both countries, the first train between India and Pakistan in two years trundled across the heavily-militarized border yesterday as the fledgling peace process between the nuclear rivals took another step forward. The Samjhauta Express made a return trip between Pakistani and Indian border cities, with cheerful passengers celebrating the revival of the cheapest mode of transportation across the frontiers where peace has begun to replace decades-old tensions.
The brightly decorated 10-carriage diesel train rolled out of the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore at 8:05 a.m. (0305 GMT) carrying 65 passengers over the border to the northern Indian town of Attari.
The revival of rail links is the latest move between the fractious South Asian giants to ease long-standing tensions after they edged close to a feared nuclear war in 2002.
The train was decorated with Pakistani flags and bunting and authorities made special security arrangements along the 30-kilometer track from Lahore to the border town of Wagah.
Cheering crowds greeted the train as it pulled into Attari station with people hanging from the engine.
Hordes of photographers rushed onto the railway platform to greet the passengers, who waved from aboard the train as waiting crowds garlanded the train officials.
It made the return trip to Lahore six and a half hours later with 242 passengers from India, most of them heading to meet relatives who stayed in Pakistan after the subcontinent was partitioned on independence from Britain in 1947.
Grinning passengers hailed the resumption of the twice-weekly train.
“The train will help divided families see each other more frequently,” said Ramesh Lal, a Hindu member of Pakistan’s Parliament, who was traveling with his family from Lahore to Bombay for the World Social Forum.
The bloody mass migration that followed partition, as Hindus from Pakistan relocated east to India and Muslims from India headed west to Pakistan — many by train — saw tens of thousands of families torn apart and mass slaughters between clashing migrants.
Since then tensions between the rival states, which have exploded into three wars almost sparked a fourth in 2002, have made cross-border travel difficult and at times impossible.
All transport links were severed after a deadly attack on India’s Parliament in December 2001 which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. The attack triggered the mobilization of a million troops to their shared frontier.
The resumption of the train service followed a historic joint declaration by India and Pakistan only last week to resume talks to resolve contentious issues including the 56-year old territorial dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.
A cross-border bus service resumed in July and flights came back on New Year’s Day. The revival of rail travel, the most traditional mode of transport between the two sides of the subcontinent, is the final link in the restoration of transport ties.
“The people of both the countries, their culture and language are the same. I just fail to understand why the politicians fight on petty issues,” said Abdul Salim, a Pakistan-bound passenger from the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan.
Another passenger, Sakina Khatun and her sister Parveen, told the Hindustan Times newspaper they were going to Pakistan after five years to attend the marriage of a cousin.
Saima, a Pakistani national who had come to attend her sister-in-law’s wedding in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, said she was glad the train had resumed as it was the most affordable way to travel.
“I will return to India in July by the Samjhauta Express,” she added.
“This train will bring people of both sides closer and pave the way in establishing cordial and long lasting relations,” said Pakistani MP Muhammad Anwar of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party.
A one-way economy class fare from Lahore to Attari is 50 rupees (86 cents) and 100 rupees for first class. The Samjhauta Express will run each Thursday and Monday from Lahore to Attari, returning the same day.
