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Thar Express from Pakistan arrives at Jodhpur
by Lokendra Singh

    Jodhpur: The crowd on the platform of Jodhpur railway station was full with emotions after meeting their enthusiast relatives as the Thar Express carrying passengers from Pakistan arrived here late on Saturday night. The crowd cheered as the flower-bedecked train with "Queen of the Desert" and "Bridge of Friendship" written on it, reached here at midnight. Teary-eyed relatives and members of the divided families greeted the passengers from Pakistan who were happy to reach India in few hours. Abdul Hamir Quereshi, a resident of Karachi, who left India at the age of five, was thrilled to meet his relatives after 40 long years. "We are very happy that we could reach India within few years of journey. We also had to bear less expense. In this way, the friendship between India and Pakistan will strengthen. The people would be able to meet each within few hours and this would be a great relief. This is good way of increasing people to people contact and faith would increase," he said. Another Pakistani, Mohammad Ishaq requested the governments of both the nations to continue with the train and also sought to do away with the visa system. "We did not have a very good experience through the Punjab route and had to face a lot of difficulties. This route is cheaper and hassle free. We would request the government of both countries to keep this route open in the long run too. We would also ask them to do away with the visa as well as the passport system," he said.

     Pakistan and India resumed a train service across the Thar desert on Saturday, 41 years after it was suspended following the second of the three wars between Indian and Pakistan. The service between Khokhrapar and Munabao was discontinued during the 1965 India-Pakistan war. Nearly 170 Pakistani citizens and officials took the train, which took back about 260 Indians. The service will be operated using a Pakistani train for the first six months and an Indian train for the subsequent six months. It will be the second rail link established between the two countries since they launched a peace process two years ago. A train service linking Punjab with Pakistani Punjab was restored in 2004.
-Feb 19, 2006

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