The Hindu : Front Page : Thar Express brings India, Pakistan closer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 19, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Thar Express brings India, Pakistan closer

Mohammed Iqbal

MUNABAO (RAJASTHAN): Forty-one years after the disruption of the rail link between India and Pakistan on the western border, the much-awaited Thar Express from Pakistan steamed across the desert sands to arrive here on Saturday to a tumultuous welcome by people of India. Hundreds of excited men, women and children cheered as the decked up train rolled into the platform marking resumption of train service snapped since 1965.

The train, which crossed Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas and Khokhrapar towns in Sindh province after starting from Karachi on Friday night, reached here one hour behind schedule on Saturday afternoon.

The revival of the rail link is set to reunite a great many divided families across the borders, besides giving a fillip to the friendly relations emerging between the two countries as part of confidence building measures.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, accompanied by a host of dignitaries, was at the station to witness the historic moment and welcome the travellers from Pakistan.

An estimated 200 passengers, including 62 members of a delegation of the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy and a few journalists, came on the goodwill train's inaugural run.

Folk songs

Local folk musicians sang songs and a Border Security Force band played the tune of the famous Rajasthani folk song "Padhaaro Mhaarey Des" (welcome to my land) as the 10-bogie green and yellow train No. 6205 from Pakistan came to a halt at the spruced up platform. The Pakistani travellers standing on footboards waved and extended their hands to the people at the station.

"It is a historic occasion. This train has restored a lost link which was of immense significance for divided families," a visibly cheerful guard of the train, Khalid Pervez, told The Hindu. The driver, Jaan Shehzad, and assistant driver, Mohammed Shareef, were equally pleased while pointing out that the train had received a great reception at each station on the way.

Iqbal Haider, Secretary-General of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and former Federal Minister - who was a member of the Pakistani delegation - said the friendly ties would help in people's welfare on both sides of border. The delegation will visit Jaipur and other towns in Rajasthan to spread the message of peace and harmony.

Balloons and pigeons were released into the sky and a large number of villagers stood on sand dunes outside the fences put up at the station as Mr. Lalu Prasad flagged off the train on its return journey to Pakistan carrying the 241 Indian passengers who had arrived here after an overnight journey aboard the Thar Express of Indian Railways that started from Jodhpur.

Mr. Lalu Prasad, talking to reporters at the station, said the train would bridge the gap between the people in the two countries even as the two governments were "persistently making progress" on all other issues. He said the Railways had plans to start goods trains on the route to promote trade.

Both incoming and outgoing passengers echoed the sentiments of reviving the long-lost relations between the families and building up bridges of understanding between the two nations.

Mohammed Basheer from Jodhpur, one of the first passengers to buy the journey ticket, said he would attend several marriages of relatives during his visit to Karachi, while Luqman Khan and Bairam Khan of Ramsar village in Barmer district would be meeting their 75-year-old sister, living at Chhachhro in Sindh, for the first time.

Family reunion

Bhagwan Das of Dikri village in Mirpur Khas district of Pakistan said he would be visiting his brothers settled in Gujarat after several years. Qamarunnisa from Karachi, accompanied by her husband and three children, said she would be meeting her aunts at Makrana in Nagaur district of Rajasthan after a gap of 35 years.

Each of the passengers, getting clearance through Customs and Immigration, had a story - emanating from the history of Partition of the subcontinent - to share. The bulk of the divided families of Mohajirs (refugees), who had migrated from the Indian heartland, are living in the urban areas of Sindh and the restored link provides them a shorter route to India in comparison with the existing route via the Wagah border.

The Indian Railways restored the rail link at a cost of Rs. 10.73 crores in a period of seven months, while Munabao station has been refurbished with the construction of two new platforms, Immigration and Customs counters and facilities of bank and money exchange besides other amenities.

The arrangement can handle nearly 650 passengers from either side.

The rail link was snapped when Pakistani fighter jets bombed the tracks connecting the two countries during the 1965 war. Prior to that, trains used to travel between Mumbai and Karachi through Munabao. The track between Barmer, forming part of the then Jodhpur princely State, and Sadipalli in Sindh was laid way back in December 1900.

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