No proposal under consideration to resume air and rail link with India: Pakistan minister

Lahore: Pakistan's Railways and Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Tuesday that no proposal is under consideration to resume air and rail link between Pakistan and India.

The air and land link between the two countries were suspended following India's move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. The train - Samjhauta Express - and Lahore-Delhi bus service were also suspended.

"Currently, no proposal to resume air and rail traffic between Pakistan and India is under consideration at the moment," the minister said in a reply to a question during a media talk.

Before the relations soared between the two countries, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had been operating two weekly flights to New Delhi from Lahore.

In 2017, a PIA’s weekly flight from Karachi to Mumbai was suspended because of “commercial reasons” -- declining traffic along the route.

Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived after a terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by terror groups based in the neighbouring country. Subsequent attacks, including one on an Indian Army camp in Uri, further deteriorated the relationship.

The relationship dipped further after India’s war planes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan on February 26, 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

The relations deteriorated after India announced withdrawing the special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the state into two union territories in August, 2019. Following India’s decision, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and expelled the Indian envoy.

Trade ties between Pakistan and India have largely been frozen since then.