New Delhi (AsiaNews/AP) - Officials from India and Pakistan began today two days of talks to discuss reopening a second railroad link, 40 years after the service was halted during a war between the two South Asian rivals.
The train service would link Munabao, in western India, and Khokrapar, in Pakistan's southern Sindh province. Hostile relations and wars between the neighbours has ensured that the link, severed in 1965, has remained shut.
Today talks focused on how visas would be issued and security checks. "The rail link will be an important addition to the existing transport links between the two countries," Navtej Sarna, an external affairs ministry spokesman, said on yesterday. Saleem-ur-Rehman Akhoond of the Pakistan railways heads the Pakistani delegation at the talks, while the Indian side will be led by Ashok Gupta of the Indian railways, Sarna said.
The relations between India and Pakistan have improved since early 2004, allowing them to reopen several cross-border transportation links, and increasing interaction between people and businesses. Another railroad link is already operating between the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore and Amritsar in India.