After Pakistan suspends Samjhauta Express from its end, India cancels operations too, say reports
An unidentified official told PTI that India stopped operations because of a drop in the number of passengers.
The Indian Railways on Thursday cancelled the operations of the Samjhauta Express on the Indian side, hours after Pakistan announced the same from its side, PTI reported. Pakistan said earlier in the day that the train will be suspended temporarily till the security situation between the two countries improves.
The train that was supposed to leave from Attari to Delhi at around 8 pm on Thursday was cancelled.
The train’s next run was scheduled on Sunday, March 3.
“With no passengers from Pakistan, it makes no sense to run it on our end,” an unidentified official told PTI. “The cancellation has been done purely for operational reason. Hopefully we will be able to resume services once the tension de-escalates.”
At least 40 passengers from both countries are believed to be stranded at Attari, officials said.
The Samjhauta Express was started on July 22, 1976, under the Shimla Agreement, which settled the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. It has six sleeper coaches and an AC 3-tier coach. Its terminals are in Lahore and Delhi. It leaves from India on Wednesdays and Sundays. The train departs on Mondays and Thursdays from Lahore.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated since February 14, when 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a suicide terror attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.
India and Pakistan on Wednesday claimed that they had shot down each others’ fighter jets, a day after the Indian Air Force had struck a Jaish terror camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. India said Pakistan had attempted to target military installations in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday and confirmed a pilot of its Air Force was missing in action after the operation.
Pakistan claimed that its jets had struck across the Line of Control from “Pakistani airspace”, and that it had shot down two Indian jets. The action was not targeted at military installations or civilians, Islamabad claimed.