03 January 2004	Saturday	10 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 2: Scenes of jubilation and merriment, punctuated by occasional sobs, were witnessed at Quaid-i-Azam International Airport on Friday when a PIA plane carrying 159 passengers from Mumbai touched down after a lapse of nearly two years.

The relaunching of PIA operations on the Karachi-Mumbai-Karachi sector hopefully marked the end of the period of mistrust between the once arch rivals in the subcontinent which brought untold sufferings to families torn asunder at the time of partition.

The first PIA flight, PK-274, took off with 159 passengers from the Jinnah International Airport at 11.05am and landed in Mumbai after one hour and 45 minutes. Originally, a total of 164 passengers were to travel through the flight but five of them could not board it for various reasons.

The PIA's Karachi-New Delhi-Karachi flights operation resumes on Saturday. The PK-272 is scheduled to take off from the same terminal at 07.50am for which 142 passengers have obtained a reservation.

The return flight, PK-273, will take off from New Delhi at 11.40am has a booking of 139 passengers. The flight is scheduled to land at Karachi airport at around 1.10pm, said a PIA spokesman.

The flight from Mumbai on Friday had taken off at about 3:25pm and landed at the Jinnah Terminal at about 5.15pm - almost 75 minutes beyond the schedule. The delay was caused due to arrangements to accommodate a group of Hajis in the flight for their onward journey, the spokesman, Bashir Ahmad, said.

The Indian Airlines' operation on both the sectors has been planned to be resumed from January 10, according to an IA spokesperson. The AI has set up its city office at Shaheen Complex but it is yet to be made operational. She said that the office would hopefully start functioning after the Saarc summit.

According to an agreement, PIA and AI would initially be operating their flights on these two sectors. Later on, Islamabad and Chinoy (formerly Madras) sectors would also be opened.

As the PIA flight from Mumbai touched the Jinnah Terminal, scores of people had already crowded the exit passenger gate to receive their loved ones. They nearly broke the security barriers as the passengers started coming out. People all around the front portion of the terminal looked extremely happy with a number of them having tears of joy rolling down their cheeks.

At the departure lounge, similar scenes were witnessed when boarding process for the PIA's first flight to Mumbai got under way, adds APP. An old lady driven on a wheelchair said she was going to Mumbai for an eye operation but would also avail the opportunity to see her relatives there.

With a beaming smile, another passenger said that he was going to India to attend his daughter's marriage. He said his ailing sister was eagerly waiting from him.

A young woman who got a chance to visit India after two and half years said: "I am very happy with the improvement in ties between the two countries and it is a very happy occasion." She said she hailed from India but her in-laws lived in Karachi.

Another woman said she was going back to India after two months stay here. She described her visit as very pleasant. Julius Pinto, a senior officer in the Pakistan State Oil, said he was proceeding to Goa to visit his relatives. He said it would be his first visit to India.