- By Abhinav Gupta
- Thu, 08 Aug 2019 03:26 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Islamabad | Jagran News Desk: Amid the deteriorating ties between India and Pakistan following the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Islamabad on Thursday said that it permanently stopping Samjhauta Express services, ANI quoted Pakistani media as saying.
"In a decision by the railways ministry, Samjhauta Express services have been permanently stopped. It used to ply twice a week. The people who had already purchased their tickets can get their money reimbursed from Lahore DS office," ANI reports quoting Pakistan railways minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
The move comes a day after Pakistan expelled the Indian High Commissioner and suspended bilateral trade with its nuclear-armed neighbour. It downgraded diplomatic relations with India and suspended bilateral trade in the wake of New Delhi's "unilateral and illegal" move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
India termed Pakistan's announcement to downgrade diplomatic ties with it as an attempt to present an alarming picture to the world about relations between the two countries.
The Ministry of External Affairs said the Constitution was, is and will always be a sovereign matter and recent developments pertaining to Article 370 are entirely India's internal affair.
Pakistan has condemned and rejected the Indian government's decision and vowed to exercise "all possible options" to counter India's "illegal" and "unilateral" step. India maintains the Jammu and Kashmir issue is strictly internal.
Meanwhile, the United States urged Pakistan to refrain from any "retaliatory aggression" against India and take "demonstrable action" against terrorist groups within its territory.
Earlier, in February this year, Pakistan had suspended the Samjhauta Express train service, amidst tense bilateral ties in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.
The Samjhauta Express, named after the Hindi word for "agreement", comprises six sleeper coaches and an AC 3-tier coach. The train service was started on July 22, 1976 under the Shimla Agreement that settled the 1971 war between the two nations.
The already-strained ties between India and Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad which had claimed lives of 40 CRPF personnel, have deteriorated in the last few days after the Indian government scrapped Article 370 and bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.
