The Hindu : National : Thar Express cancellation leaves many stranded

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 25, 2006

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National

Thar Express cancellation leaves many stranded

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: Many hundreds of Indians visiting relatives in Pakistan will need to find alternative ways to get back home or get their visas extended after the suspension of the Thar Express due to heavy rains and flooding of tracks on the Indian side.

Mir Mohammed Khaskheli, Divisional Superintendent of the Pakistan Railways in Karachi told The Hindu that he received faxed information of the train's suspension from the Railway Ministry in New Delhi.

"They said the work on the tracks will take three weeks. Altogether four trips of the Thar Express have been cancelled," Mr. Khaskheli said.

The scheduled departure of the train on Friday is the first of the trips cancelled. Each trip transports 364 passengers. "It's usually a mixed bag of Pakistanis visiting India, and visiting Indians going back home on the expiry of their visas," he said.

Usually, travellers must exit a country by the port through which they entered.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid was reported to have told local media that Indians would need to get permission from the Pakistan Interior Ministry to travel home by alternative means.

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