India and Pakistan will resume the Samjhauta Express train service on Sunday, two days after they suspended operations amid a rise in hostilities, railway officials told PTI. The development follows the release of Indian pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was detained by Pakistan on Wednesday.
The first train from India will leave on March 3 and will return from Pakistan on March 4, an official told PTI.
The Samjhauta Express service began in 1976 under the Simla Agreement, which settled the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. It has six sleeper coaches and an AC 3-tier coach, and runs between Lahore and Delhi. It leaves from Delhi on Wednesdays and Sundays. The train departs on Mondays and Thursdays from Lahore.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated since February 14, when 40 security personnel were killed in a suicide terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.
India and Pakistan on Wednesday claimed that they had shot down each others’ fighter jets, a day after the Indian Air Force had struck a Jaish terror camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. India said Pakistan had attempted to target military installations in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Pakistan said that the Samjhauta Express train will be suspended temporarily till the security situation between the two countries improves. Soon after, the Indian Railways cancelled the operations of the train on the Indian side.
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