Search the Internet          Tips

Marwar-Sindh rail link may be revived

India's decision to set up a new visa check point at Munabao in Rajasthan on the India-Pakistan border has raised hopes of a revival of old bonds between Marwar and Sindh.

India's unilateral announcement of setting up new visa check posts along the Indo-Pak border, including one at Munabao in Barmer district of Rajasthan, has raised hopes that rail services between Munabao, the last railhead this side of the border, and Khokharapar in Pakistan would be restarted after a gap of 36 years.

The thriving rail link between the two towns was severed after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

Munabao Junction is only eight kilometres from Khokharapar and laying of a fresh track between the two stations should not take much time if Pakistan agrees to revive the link.

The Munabao-Khokharapar rail link in the Thar desert was the main trade link between people of Marwar and Sindh before partition. It provided access to the Karachi port and served as the main trade route for people of Marwar during the British rule.

The state railway of the former Jodhpur state, whose erstwhile ruler even toyed with the idea of acceding to Pakistan before Sardar Patel intervened, used to operate train services between Jodhpur and Munabao Junction. Passengers proceeding to Karachi and Hyderabad would change trains at this junction.

Even after independence, the arrangement continued as people in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra used the route to visit Pakistan.

But the rail link was severed in 1965 when war broke out between the neighbours. At that time, Pakistani planes targeted Munabao Junction with a vengeance.

Unexploded bombs and shells of the ones that exploded can still be found in the sand dunes around Munabao village.

The demand for re-opening the rail link between Munabao and Khokharapar crops up whenever there are signs of an improvement in the relationship between India and Pakistan.

Encouraged by the new-found warmth between the two countries, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot only last week wrote to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee requesting him to take up the issue with Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Gehlot reminded the prime minister that revival of the rail link would eliminate the need for people travelling by road on both the sides to use the Wagah out-post in Punjab to cross over.

Before its closure, the Munabao-Khokharapar rail link served as a corridor for transporting Indian merchandise to Sindh and vice versa. Cotton bales from Pakistan used to be transported to Indian cotton mills by this route, he added.

Gehlot recalled that late prime minister Indira Gandhi had approved the idea of reopening the rail link and even forwarded the proposal to the Indo-Pak joint committee, which had also approved of the same.

However, objections raised by senior Pakistani army officers led to shelving of the proposal.

With India offering to set up a visa check post and prospects of an improvement in relations with Pakistan becoming bright, re-opening of the rail link looks like an attainable dream.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report