Pakistan suspended train service of Samjhauta Express

Guwahati: Pakistan has suspended operations of Samjhauta Express between Lahore in Pakistan and Attari in Delhi on Thursday amid the growing tension between India and Pakistan.

The Samjhauta Express is a biweekly train service from Lahore to Attari on Monday and Thursday.

Pakistan Railways has taken the decision to suspend the train service to avert any untoward incident in light of heightened security concerns. The train was about to depart from Pakistan at 8 am with 16 passengers on Thursday but ahead of its departure.

The Pakistan Railways in a notice said that the service of Samjhauta Express between Pakistan and India has been suspended until further notice.

The Indian Government on Wednesday, however, said that the train service will run on schedule despite the mounting tensions between India and Pakistan.

The Northern Railway said that the train departed on time from New Delhi with 27 passengers onboard. It further informed that the train left at 11.20 pm on Wednesday which runs from Delhi to Attari and there are three Pakistanis and 24 Indian nationals aboard the train.

The service of Samjhauta Express was started on July 22, 1976 under the Shimla Agreement that settled the 1971 war between the two nations.

The rising tension between India and Pakistan has grown up because of the terror attack that took place on February 14 in Pulwama at Jammu and Kashmir where more than 40 CRPF jawans have been martyred. The terrorist attack have been done by Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group based in Pakistan.

After the terror attack, the Indian Air Force has carried out an air strike on February 26 which destroyed the biggest ever camp of the Pakistan terror group JeM at Balakot where more than 325 JeM militant have been killed. In the operation, a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for suicide attacks were eliminated and the facility at Balakot camp was headed by Yousuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar.

The Government of India has decided to take pre-emptive action against the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists as they were planning to attack in other parts of the country and in order to avoid civilian casualties.

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