December 2, 2003	Tuesday	Shawwal 7, 1424

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NEW DELHI, Dec 1: India and Pakistan agreed on Monday to restore their air links from January 1, exactly two years after they were snapped by New Delhi following an armed attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001, officials said here on Monday.

They told Dawn after senior aviation officials signed the much awaited agreement that the two countries would also restore the more popular Wagah border train link, possibly later this month, after railway officials from the two countries meet in the next few days in New Delhi.

A joint statement following talks between senior aviation officials of both sides on Monday gave fulsome credit to President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for arriving at an easier-than-thought agreement.

According to the agreement, India has allowed for the first time that PIA could fly passengers planes to the two designated Indian airports — Mumbai and Delhi — of capacity that equals Boeing 747, reflecting growing prospects for future business ties.

Pakistan has also asked India to give it access to a third destination, a toss-up between Chennai, Bangalore or Hyderabad. India may accede to this, but would seek landing rights in Islamabad. There was no word on whether Indian Airlines will resume flights to Lahore, which it handed over some years ago to PIA, on a revenue-sharing basis.

There would be five weekly flights between Delhi and Lahore, four between Delhi and Karachi, and three weekly services connecting Mumbai with Karachi.

“The talks were held in a cordial and friendly atmosphere,” the statement said. “In pursuance to the announcement made by the President of Pakistan on 30 November 2003, the two sides agreed to resume air links and over-flights with effect from 1st January 2004 on reciprocal basis.”

The agreement also “completes the operationalization of the proposal made by the Prime Minister of India in May for the resumption of civil aviation links between the two countries,” the statement said.

Pakistani officials said restoration of the train service was next on their agenda but they stressed that it would probably be preceded by restoration of full diplomatic strength of the two high commissions.

Three more proposed transport connections — a bus route between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in Kashmir, a ferry service between Mumbai and Karachi, and revival of the Rajasthan-Sindh visa checkpost — would need greater logistical inputs, along with a fresh political nudge to materialize, the officials said. The foreign secretaries of the two sides would take these up.

Pakistan has proposed railway-related talks in the first half of December. India is expected to agree to this proposal.

Diplomats say the two countries have expedited the normalization process to make it convenient for Mr Vajpayee to travel to Islamabad for the Saarc summit to be held from Jan 4-6.

The two countries restored the Delhi-Lahore bus link in July. After their decision to revive air links, they now appear set to hold talks for the resumption of the “Samjhauta Express” train service.

“At the request of Pakistan, Indian agreed to the removal of restrictions on the type of aircraft, up to B-747 capacity, to be used by the designated carriers of the two countries,” the aviation statement said.

It said the two sides agreed to hold further discussions to update the existing bilateral air services agreement at a mutually convenient date.