War threat hits passenger traffic

NEW DELHI: The threat of an impending war between India and Pakistan post 26/11 has affected cross-border travel by residents of the two nations. After the Mumbai attacks, the number of passengers in the Delhi-Lahore bus service and Samjhauta Express has come down.

Passenger traffic between the two countries is expected to drop further as the Indian government has issued a travel advisory to its citizens warning them against travelling to Pakistan as lives of Indians could be “unsafe” there.

A spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs said on Friday, “There have been reports in the Pakistani media that several Indian nationals were arrested over the last two days in Lahore and Multan and they are being accused of being terrorists. Since it has also been reported in the Pakistani media that the senior police officer in Lahore was unaware of the arrest in his city, it seems that this is the work of other agencies in Pakistan that operate outside the law and civilian control. Indian citizens are therefore advised that it would be unsafe for them to travel to or be in Pakistan.”

An official with the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) confirmed a drop in the occupancy rates of the Delhi-Lahore bus service. The official said the buses coming from Lahore too had registered a decline in the number of passengers.

Similarly, bookings on the Samjhauta Express, the only other rail connection between the two countries apart from the Thar Express, have also dropped.