Pakistan, India restart cross-border train service suspended over tensions

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD - A key train service, Samjhauta Express between India and Pakistan, was resumed on Monday, officials said.

The rail service between Lahore and Delhi was suspended in wake of the recent tension between the two neighboring countries.

"Samjhauta Express train reached Attari railway station today at 11:30 am (local time)," an Indian official said. "The train set off from Lahore in morning."

Indian officials announced on Saturday that the two countries have agreed to resume services at their ends.

According to Pakistani media reports on Monday, the "Samjhota Express" train, carrying some 150 passengers, left railway station in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, for India in the morning.

The cross-border passenger train service was suspended due to recent tensions over last month's suicide attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which killed over 40 Indian policemen, officials said.

The train normally runs between the two neighboring countries on Monday and Thursday.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry announced suspension of the train service on Feb 28 "in view of the prevailing tensions between Pakistan and India."

However, a cross-border bus service between Lahore and New Delhi, the capital of India, was unaffected.

The Pakistan army said Sunday there had been calm along the Line of Control, the de-facto border between the two neighbors in Kashmir, after heavy exchange of shelling on the night of March 1 and 2.

The Indian firing had killed two Pakistani soldiers and two civilians on Sunday, according to Pakistan army.

Skirmishes broke out along the LoC after India claimed its warplanes bombed a camp of militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in northwest Pakistan on Feb 26. JeM had claimed responsibility for the attack in Pulwama, a town in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Feb 14.

In what appears to be a tit-for-tat action, Pakistan army said its air force shot down two Indian fighter jets on Feb 27 and captured one India pilot. The pilot was later released and handed over to the Indian authorities in what Prime Minister Imran Khan described as a "goodwill for peace."

Reports from the Pakistani side of the LoC said that schools were also reopened on Monday as normalcy returned to the area.

Several countries issued appeals for calm between Pakistan and India, and urged both countries to resolve differences through dialogue.