EXPERIENCE
Slow train to Pakistan
RAHUL CHANDAWARKAR
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Immigration forms in English, two lengthy customs and immigration checks at Attari and Wagah and eight hours to travel 42 km! That is how taxing the Amritsar-Lahore train journey is.
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EVEN as the successful first run of the bus journey between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad is being celebrated, we need to do an urgent rethink on the manner in which the Amritsar to Lahore train link is being conducted.
In November/December 2004, I travelled on the Samjauta Express and I can say with complete honesty that it is one of the toughest rail journeys in the world. Not only does it try one's patience, but it also saps one's mental and physical energies with the paperwork and the incomprehensible delays involved.
At the Attari railway station near Amritsar, where one boards the Pakistan bound train, one has to fill an immigration form in English! This is ironical, considering that the 600-odd passengers who travel on this train twice a week speak mainly Hindi or Urdu. Many are illiterate and have to beg fellow passengers to fill in their forms. I filled a dozen forms on my way to Pakistan and another dozen on my return to India!
The scheduled departure time of the bi-weekly train which runs every Tuesday and Thursday from Attari is at 1.30 p.m. That means the passengers, who arrive by the "Attari Special" from Delhi at 6 a.m. have to wait seven hours before their journey begins.
The immigration forms in English are distributed around 9 a.m. And though there are several counters, there are long winding queues. The officials take their own time.
One portion of the three-part form is retained by the Attari officials, the second has to be given to the Pakistani officials at Wagah and the last (the disembarkation form) has to be presented on return to India. This immigration form is superfluous, considering that every passenger has a valid visa to visit Pakistan to begin with.
If that is not all, the customs check is yet to commence. We are soon standing in long queues. The over zealous officials want to check every single bag right down to the last handkerchief! Not surprisingly, the entire process takes over four hours.
It is soon 1.30 p.m., but there is no sign of the train. Platform two at Attari is a sea of humanity.
A mother is pacifying two of her youngest children from her brood of six, while an elderly couple eats their roti and pickle meal in silence in a corner. The Pune drama troupe, with whom I am travelling, decides to rehearse its lines.
The Samjauta Express from Pakistan finally arrives at 5 p.m., a good five hours behind schedule. The 14-coach train arrives on platform one, which is adjacent to where we are camping. It is a smart green coloured train with Urdu lettering. The two countries run their locomotives and rakes in rotation for the 42-km journey.
BACK TO INDIA: The return journey after a tedious wait at Wagah. PHOTOS: RAHUL CHANDAWARKAR
The Pakistani tourists in distinctive salwar kameez outfits are soon familiarising themselves with the Indian immigration system. The long lines have begun to form and the process we had just experienced, is about to repeat itself.
When the Pakistani train finally arrives on our platform, it is closer to six o'clock.
Largely unreserved
The train, except for a solitary bogie, is unreserved. Seats have to be secured on a first-come, first-serve basis. It is sad to see old couples with large bags, being pushed around by younger, stronger passengers in a rush for seats.
Expectedly, we have to climb over bags and even gunny bags to reach our seats. Despite being crammed on an upper berth, a group of little children seems cheerful. However, an old man named Mohammed is pensive. He is travelling to Multan to meet his deceased brother's family. Mohammed is upset, as he could not meet his brother when alive.
The train crawls out of Attari station at 6.30 p.m. Proceeding at a snail's pace, it reaches the Wagah check post in Pakistan in about 30 minutes.
At Wagah, every passenger has to once again disembark with bag and baggage for the Pakistani round of immigration checks. You need nerves of steel to put up with this rigour. The plight of the older passengers can only be imagined. Only the thought of meeting their near and dear ones must be what keeps them going.
There are eight visa counters and it takes the Pakistani officers five hours to clear the 600 passengers. It is midnight by the time the last passenger wearily pushes his trolley out of the immigration area.
After the last Lahore bound passenger has finally boarded the train, it takes another 70 minutes before the driver is given the green signal.
The only consolation is the potato samosas and hot, piping tea. . It gives us a chance to use our Pakistani currency for the first time.
The remaining journey from Wagah to Lahore is covered in 30 minutes. When we enter the majestic, century old Lahore railway station, it is already 2 a.m. on Friday!
This way, we have taken eight hours to cover a mere 42 km. Marathon runners are sure to find this amusing!
Syed Murtuza Hussain, an executive from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, however, doesn't think so. He says, "The customs and immigration checks were painful. It has taken me 29 hours to cover the New Delhi-Lahore distance. This is not acceptable."
My return journey from Lahore to Attari on December 13 is no different. Our drama troupe wakes up at the crack of dawn and reaches the Lahore railway station at 6.30 a.m., just to secure our seats. The train, however leaves only at 9 a.m..
We reach Wagah at 9.30 a.m. and after the now familiar, back breaking, leg cramping, five-hour customs and immigration check, we reach Attari only at 3 p.m.
By the time we lug our bags out of the Attari station, past another set of elaborate immigration checks, the sun has already set. The customs officer, who is eyeing my Pakistani Qawali CDs greedily, lets them pass after I make a noise.
In New Delhi, D.S. Mishra, Joint Secretary (Foreigners), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, says, "The immigration forms have always been in English. If people cannot read them, they can get help from fellow passengers." According to Mishra, his department has not received any written suggestion from passengers asking for a shift to Urdu and Hindi. Mishra says, "The two immigration checks are inevitable. These are international borders of two sovereign nations. The two sides have to follow their own prescribed procedures. We are trying to streamline the procedures at our end."
If you ask me, they should do away with the immigration paperwork completely.
Also, they must consider rechristening the Samjauta Express, as the "Dawn to Dusk Express".
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