Transport between India and Pakistan

Transport between India and Pakistan has been developed for tourism and commercial purposes and bears much historical and political significance for both countries, which have possessed few transport links since the partition of India in 1947. In 2019, all public transport links between the two countries were severed because of Pakistani fury at India's revocation of special status for Kashmir. The only way for travelers to make this journey is to cross on foot at Wagah.

Background

Trucks on National Highway 1 (India), waiting to cross Wagah Border

The partition of India in 1947 led to the termination of most transport links between the newly independent nations of India and Pakistan after the cross-migration of people was completed by the 1950s. The First Kashmir War had similarly divided the Himalayan region of Kashmir between the two rivals, causing the termination of road links in the region. Kashmir and the international border in the divided region of Punjab were major theatres of war during the Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971. The train connecting the Indian city of Jaipur with the Pakistani city of Karachi across the Thar Desert was destroyed when the Pakistani Air Force bombed the tracks during the 1965 war. In the 1990s, the Line of Control (LoC) demarcating the informal boundary between Indian-administered Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Kashmir was the scene of exchanges of fire between Pakistani and Indian forces and infiltration of militants into Indian Kashmir. The Kargil War of 1999 broke out when Indian forces sought to repel militants and Pakistani soldiers who had infiltrated the LoC.

By the 1970s it was possible for foreigners with the appropriate visas for each country, such as those traveling the Hippie Trail from Europe to Nepal, to walk across the border, stepping between the guards facing each other across the line.

In 1977, both nations launched the Samjhauta Express connecting the Indian city of Attari with the Pakistani city of Lahore. Since the successful launch of the Delhi-Lahore Bus in 1999, both nations have worked to establish multiple bus and train services connecting cities across the borders in the Punjab region and Sindh as well as between Indian-administered Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Kashmir across the Line of Control (LoC) – the boundary line denoting rival areas of control in the disputed region of Kashmir, which is not an official international border. India and Pakistan have no official trade relations due to ongoing tensions.

Bus service

The Delhi-Lahore Bus is a passenger bus service connecting the Indian capital of Delhi with the city of Lahore, Pakistan via the border transit post at Wagah, which is the only border crossing point between India and Pakistan opened for international travelers. The bus was of symbolic importance to the efforts of the governments of both nations to foster peaceful and friendly relations. In its inaugural run on 19 February 1999, the bus carried the then-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was to attend a summit in Lahore and was received by his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif at Wagah. Its official name is the Sada-e-Sarhad (Urdu for Call of the Frontier). The duration of the entire journey is eight hours, covering a distance of 530 km (329 mi). While the bus service had continued to run during the Kargil War of 1999, it was suspended in the aftermath of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack on 13 December 2001, which the Indian government accused Pakistan of instigating. The bus service was resumed on 16 July 2003 when bilateral relations had improved. This service was suspended in 2019, as a result of Pakistani fury at the revocation of Kashmir's special status.

Train services

As per the Shimla Agreement of 1972 and in a bid to restore peaceful ties after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, both nations launched the Samjhauta Express (Samjhauta means "accord" or "compromise" in Hindi and Urdu), connecting the Pakistani city of Lahore with the Indian town of Attari, which is close proximity to the city of Amritsar. The Thar Express was launched to connect the Pakistani city of Karachi through the Khokhrapar station and the Indian city of Jodhpur through the Munabao station. Plans and negotiations are underway to launch a train service connecting the Pakistani city of Sialkot with the Indian city of Jammu.

On 18 February 2007, 2 carriages of the train experienced alleged terrorist bombings near Panipat, Haryana in India. The 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings claimed the lives of 68 people. Both the Indian and Pakistani governments condemned the attack, and officials on both sides speculated that the perpetrators intended to disrupt improving relations between the two nations, There have been a number of breaks in the investigation of the bombings. As of 2011, nobody has been charged with the crime yet. It has been allegedly linked to Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu fundamentalist group in India. Other allegations also concurred with Lashkar-e-Taiba (a Pakistani-based terrorist organization). A United States report declared Arif Qasmani to be involved in the attack. The Thar Express is the other passenger railway link between the two countries, running from Karachi, Pakistan to Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. It was not discontinued after Partition but was after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. On 18 February 2006, it was revived after a period of 41 years.

In 2019, as a result of the revocation of special status for Kashmir, Pakistan's railway minister Sheikh Rasheed decreed that there would be no more rail transport links between India and Pakistan.

Transport across Kashmir

See also: Srinagar–Muzaffarabad Bus

In 2003, after a ceasefire in Kashmir improved bilateral relations, the two governments worked on the proposal for a bus connecting the city of Srinagar in Indian Kashmir to the city of Muzaffarabad in Pakistani Kashmir. The official agreement was promulgated on 16 February 2005 when the then-Indian Minister of External Affairs K. Natwar Singh visited Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The decision was announced along with agreements on establishing the Thar Express train service. The bus runs a distance of 183 kilometers and was officially launched on 7 April 2005 and was flagged off by the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The service was suspended for some time after 2005 Kashmir earthquake due to aftereffect of road damage.

A bus service connecting Poonch (India) with Rawalkote (Pakistan) over 55 km was also launched on 20 June 2006. On 5 June 2008, the passenger quota on the Poonch-Rawalkote Bus was doubled. Bus services connecting Kargil (India) with Skardu (Pakistan), Jammu (India) with Sialkot (Pakistan) and Mirpur (Pakistan) are also being planned.

The Indian official position viewed the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service as a "humanitarian measure without prejudice" and not affecting the rival policies and stands of the two governments on the Kashmir conflict. To make the bus safe and fully operational, the LoC would demine if and where necessary and other security arrangements would be made as well. Both governments announced that Indian and Pakistani citizens could travel anywhere in Indian Kashmir and Pakistani Kashmir, including the Northern Areas of Pakistan, which are part of India's claim on Kashmir and pre-1947 Kashmir. In India, all citizens would have to apply at the Regional Passport Office in Srinagar, which was the designated authority to evaluate applications, verify identities and issue entry permits. As of 25 September 2019 all transport routes have been closed between India and Pakistan after India revoked article 370 giving special status to Indian-administered Kashmir.