Border tension: Amritsar-Lahore bus halts

GS Paul

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 1

Following the surgical strikes on terror launch pads and rise in tension between India and Pakistan, uncertainty prevails over the plying of ‘Punj-Aab’ bus between Amritsar and Lahore and Amritsar and Nankana Sahib with a senior official saying that the bus had been suspended for now. The bus that runs every Tuesday and Friday didn’t leave Amritsar on Tuesday. From the other side, not a single occupant was there in the Pakistan’s bus ‘Dosti’ that reached Wagah from Lahore as per its schedule yesterday. The bus left with no passenger today.

General Manager-1, Punjab Roadways, Inderjit Singh Chawla said the ‘Punj-Aab’ schedule was suspended due to high tension prevailing on the Attari-Wagah border.

“We conveyed to the Director, State Transport, about the disturbed conditions prevailing at the Attari-Wagah border and it was decided to stop the ‘Punj-Aab’ bus service. But, we may resume the service from the next Tuesday after taking into account the situation. Till now, we have received booking of only one passenger,” he said.

However, the Delhi-Lahore bus, officially known as ‘Sada-e-Sarhad’ continued its 500-km service from Delhi to Attari border through Attari-Wagah joint check-post (JCP). It carried 15 passengers, all from Pakistan, on Friday.

The ‘Sada-e-Sarhad’ service was begun in 1999, with the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee travelling on its inaugural run. The bus continued through the Kargil war, was halted in the aftermath of the December 2001 Parliament attack, resumed in October 2003, and continued through the crisis of 2008. It now operates six days a week. Earlier, the Delhi-Lahore service remained suspended on India’s request in the wake of caste violence in Haryana from February 21, 2016, to February 24, 2016.

The ‘Punj-Aab’ (symbolising five rivers of joint Punjab of pre-Partition era) was flagged off by the then PM Dr Manmohan Singh on March 24, 2006. The bus runs between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib, the birth place of Guru Nanak Dev. The Amritsar-Lahore service was started on January 24, 2006.

Amid fear of terror strikes, the Pakistan government had restricted the movement of ‘Sada-e Sarhad,’ ‘Punj-Aab’ and ‘Dosti’ buses up to the Wagah border in Pakistan, instead of going up to Lahore, since January 1, 2015. The Pakistan government had made arrangements to halt the buses in a motel at Wagah. The Pakistan bus too does not go beyond Attari, JCP.

The Pakistan government had taken the decision after two terror strikes — the November 2 suicide bombing at Wagah that left more than 60 people dead and the December 16 attack on an Army school in Peshawar that left 150 people, mostly children, dead.

Meanwhile, the Lahore-Delhi Samjhauta Express train was operational as per its routine. On September 27, it carried around 138 passengers and reached Attari railway station in the afternoon.