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Journalism of Courage
Marking another step towards improvement in Indo-Pak relations, the Samjhauta Express will chug out of the Attari railway station for Lahore on January 15 next year.
Train services, along with air services, were suspended following the Parliament attack on December 13, 2001. To return to the pre-December 13 status, now only two things remain to be done — increasing the mission strength to 110 and allowing Pakistani diplomats to move out of Delhi. At present only the High Commissioner can move out of Delhi.
The decision to resume the train services was taken after two-day deliberations between members of the visiting Pakistani railway delegation and their Indian counterparts. In a joint briefing after signing the Memorandum of Understanding today, they announced that the train services, to begin with, will resume as per the earlier timetable, composition and fare structure. An Indian team will be going to Pakistan soon to finetune the details. The date of their visit would be decided soon. Sources said the Pakistani side was keen to resume the train services from January 1 but the Indian side had wanted some more time.
Later, Additional Member (Traffic) S.B. Ghosh Dastidar, who led the Indian side, said the ‘‘entire paraphernalia’’ had to be in place. However, sources said it is more out of security concerns that India had wanted some more time.
Pakistan railyway’s Additional General Manager (Passenger Operations) Muhammad Iqbal Khatri said it would give them time for consolidation of accounts. Both the sides exchange monthly statements related to running of the train. With the MoU today, the existing ‘‘agreement relating to rail communication — valid till January 20 — has been extended for another three years.
