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Pak brides pin hopes on peace initiatives
Lucknow, May 11: Fresh peace initiatives between India and Pakistan have rekindled hopes among thousands of Pakistani women married to Indians, that they would be able to meet their parents in the near future with the resumption of road and rail links between the two countries.
Lucknow, May 11: Fresh peace initiatives between India and Pakistan have rekindled hopes among thousands of Pakistani women married to Indians, that they would be able to meet their parents in the near future with the resumption of road and rail links between the two countries.
"Ice is melting and we earnestly hope that road and rail links would be restored soon paving the way for our travel to Pakistan," said 39-year old Praveena Siddiqui, whose parents are in Karachi.
Married to a Lucknow-based timber merchant, Praveena has not met her parents for the last two and a half years.
Noozhat, another Pakistani married in India, last met her Karachi-based parents just before the communication links were snapped after the attack on Parliament in December 2001. "In between I lost my father but I was not able to attend his funeral because the air ticket was too costly," she said adding, "I would be the first to go to Pakistan, as and when rail link between two countries is restored," she said.
The rail link, Samjautha Express, between Delhi and Lahore, which used to cost less than Rs 200, was very popular and served as a lifeline for millions of poor families on either side of the divide. A direct flight between Delhi and Lahore used to cost Rs 6,200, recalls Naushad Ali, whose brother is a lawyer in Lahore. After the communication links were snapped between two countries and both nations refused permission to the other to use their respective air spaces, a trip to Pakistan via Dubai used to cost over Rs 52,000, said Ali.
This price tag was definitely out of reach of majority of middle class people, he added.
Uttar Pradesh, with population of 16 crore has 13 per cent Muslims, many of whom still have relatives in Pakistan. Members of these families used to travel frequently by train and the Delhi-Lahore bus started after Vajpayee's historic February 1999 visit to Pakistan. Athar Rizvi, who has relatives in Pakistani government said, "People from the both the sides are awaiting resumption of Samjhauta Express. The first step towards normalising relations between two neighbours should be to re-open the rail link. Let the people-to-people contact begin, other things will itself fall in place."
Bureau Report
Married to a Lucknow-based timber merchant, Praveena has not met her parents for the last two and a half years.
Noozhat, another Pakistani married in India, last met her Karachi-based parents just before the communication links were snapped after the attack on Parliament in December 2001. "In between I lost my father but I was not able to attend his funeral because the air ticket was too costly," she said adding, "I would be the first to go to Pakistan, as and when rail link between two countries is restored," she said.
The rail link, Samjautha Express, between Delhi and Lahore, which used to cost less than Rs 200, was very popular and served as a lifeline for millions of poor families on either side of the divide. A direct flight between Delhi and Lahore used to cost Rs 6,200, recalls Naushad Ali, whose brother is a lawyer in Lahore. After the communication links were snapped between two countries and both nations refused permission to the other to use their respective air spaces, a trip to Pakistan via Dubai used to cost over Rs 52,000, said Ali.
This price tag was definitely out of reach of majority of middle class people, he added.
Uttar Pradesh, with population of 16 crore has 13 per cent Muslims, many of whom still have relatives in Pakistan. Members of these families used to travel frequently by train and the Delhi-Lahore bus started after Vajpayee's historic February 1999 visit to Pakistan. Athar Rizvi, who has relatives in Pakistani government said, "People from the both the sides are awaiting resumption of Samjhauta Express. The first step towards normalising relations between two neighbours should be to re-open the rail link. Let the people-to-people contact begin, other things will itself fall in place."
Bureau Report