Samjhauta Express may be stopped for two months

AMRITSAR, FEB 19: The Samjhauta Express, running between India and Pakistan is likely to be stopped for a couple of months to enable secur...

AMRITSAR, FEB 19: The Samjhauta Express, running between India and Pakistan is likely to be stopped for a couple of months to enable security agencies to flush out Pakistanis overstaying in India, some of whom are believed to be behind the recently unearthed fake currency racket.

The Express, dubbed a goodwill train8217;, has of late earned the reputation of being a carrier of fake currency and narcotics.

The Union Home Ministry, it is learnt, is considering a proposal to this effect by the immigrataion authorities. The proposal suggests the bi-weekly train be made to run daily once the flush out operation is over.

The immigration authorities have informed the Ministry that more than 10,000 Pakistanis who had crossed over to India on a valid visa since the introduction of the train in 1976, had not gone back.

Home Ministry sources told The Indian Express that illegal immigrants also included a few hundred Pakistani Hindus who had moved into India after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. The government is yet to take a decision on their request for permanant settlement in India.

The Samjhauta Express is considered a lifeline for the hundreds of Hindu and Muslim Pakistanis who have relatives in both countries. The Samjhauta Express is also the sole carrier of goods between the two countries.

As per Home Ministry figures, about 2,600 Pakistani nationals are overstaying in Merrut, Muzzafarnagar, Saharanpur, Bareilly and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, 600 in Rajasthan, 300 in Haryana, 1,150 in Madhya Pradesh, 1,250 in West Bengal, 1,080 in Bihar, 400 in Andhra Pradesh, 200 in Karnataka, 310 in Tamil Nadu, 18 in Himachal Pradesh and about 1,000 in and around Delhi.

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Intelligence sources said Pakistanis who were overstaying in India had no legal means of eking out a living. Many of them were allegedly working as conduits between the Inter-Services Intelligence and its local contacts.

Interrogation of the passengers who had been caught with fake currency recently had led the intelligence agencies to a dead end as none of the names and addresses mentioned by the accused could be located. Intelligence sources said many illegal Pakistani immigrants had been staying under fictitious names or in the names of dead Indian citizens.

These sources said despite regular input by immigration authorities and alerts to respective states by the Home Ministry, hardly any overstaying Pakistanis8217; had been nabbed.

The immigration authorities are understood to have suggested making the Express a daily train to reduce the rush. The Indian Embassy in Islamabad issues about 1,500 visas every week and the Pakistani Embassy in Delhi issues about 900 visas, with the rush concentrated on the Samjhauta Express.