ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: India has asked Pakistan for a resumption of freight traffic between the two countries which was halted by New Delhi almost two months ago, but Islamabad will refuse the offer, Pakistan’s railways minister said Wednesday.

The minister, Javed Ashraf, said Pakistan “finds it more important to resume passenger train services, which have also been at a standstill since Jan 1.”

He said Indian officials asked the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi to start preparations for a resumption in freight trains.

“If they do not allow Samjhota Express,” the main passenger train link between the two countries, “we will not allow freight,” Ashraf told AFP.

“Hundreds of thousands of families are divided between the two countries. It’s more important to restore people traffic than goods traffic,” he said.

India ended train, bus and air links between the two countries after a Dec 13 attack on its parliament it blames on Islamic militants based in Pakistan.

Pakistan has denied involvement in the parliament attack but India says Pakistan has not done enough to warrant a de-escalation.

Since the parliament attack, US Secretary of State Colin Powell has conducted exhaustive telephone diplomacy with Indian and Pakistani leaders and visited the region last month hoping to prevent an outbreak of war.

President Pervez Musharraf said Tuesday that with US help, de-escalation in tension between his country and India could take place by May or June.

But Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes on Tuesday ruled out any immediate reduction in troops massed at the border, saying the situation that prompted the deployment “still remains.” —AFP