Hyderabad: A day after suspending Samjhauta Express service, Pakistan on Friday suspended bus services to India, country's Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said.
Islamabad on Friday announced that it will also suspend the Thar Express train service with India which links the two countries across the Rajasthan border following its decision to downgrade bilateral ties.
The Thar Express has been running between Jodhpur's Bhagat ki Kothi station to Karachi every Friday night since services resumed on February 18, 2006 after a 41-year suspension.
Since its resumption, the Thar Express has been popular with people visiting families across the Rajasthan border, and for Pakistani Hindus who plan to migrate to India.
According to one estimate, over four lakh passengers have taken the train in the past 13 years.
The Samjhauta Express was held up at Wagah on Thursday for some time by Pakistan authorities, citing security concerns. An Indian locomotive then brought the train to its side of the border.
Though the Samjhauta Express was briefly suspended after the Indian Air Force struck a terror base in Pakistan's Balakot in February, Thar Express continued unaffected.
Pakistan's decision to suspended the services of the two trains came after it expelled Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria on Wednesday and decided to downgrade the diplomatic ties with India over what it called New Delhi's "unilateral and illegal" move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
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India on Monday revoked Article 370 of the Constitution to withdraw the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
