- KARACHI (Reuters) - Divided
families said tearful goodbyes on Monday and wondered when they would next
see their loved-ones as the final flights left Pakistan for India before
a New Year ban on transport took effect.
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- With tension between the estranged South Asian neighbours
rising, passengers taking the last flight from Pakistan's commercial capital
Karachi for the Indian city of Bombay deplored the cutting of travel links.
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- The last flight from Pakistan to India was scheduled
to depart from Lahore for New Delhi on Monday afternoon.
-
- "Our leaders (of both countries) are crazy,"
said Khadija Ismail, an Indian citizen who came to Pakistan last week to
attend a wedding.
-
- "They will never realise the misery and problems
faced by the commoners of both countries...They are only politicians."
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- Tension between India and Pakistan, who have fought three
wars since independence from Britain in 1947, flared in the wake of an
attack by gunmen on India's parliament in New Delhi on December 13.
-
- India blames the attack, in which 14 people were killed,
on Pakistani-based Muslim militants fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir,
its only Muslim majority province.
-
- It ordered a halt to overflights by state-run Pakistan
International Airline (PIA) from January 1 as part of a package of sanctions
against its traditional foe.
-
- It also ordered the suspension of bus and rail links
with Pakistan, cut the size of Pakistan's diplomatic mission by half and
restricted the movement of Pakistani diplomats.
-
- Pakistan responded in kind, banning Indian airlines from
its airspace and imposing restrictions on Indian diplomats.
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- "HOW WILL WE MEET?"
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- The PIA flight from Karachi, carrying more than 300 passengers,
left at 8:45 a.m (0345 GMT).
-
- Ismail said the rising tension between the two countries
would create problems for thousands of people, most of them Muslim families
divided since the partition of the subcontinent at the end of British rule
in 1947.
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- Another Indian passenger said the border tension was
hurting the poor people of both countries.
-
- "They initially announced closure of bus and railway
services, now flights will also be stopped. How will we meet each other
for funerals and weddings?" he asked.
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- Pakistani nationals seeing off their relatives expressed
similar emotions.
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- "My generation has seen enough crisis, I wish the
new generation wouldn't have to see any," said Ejaz Ahmed, seeing
off his Indian sisters.
-
- "The tension between the two countries is worrying.
I'm not sure when I'm going to see...them (his sisters) again." Zaheer
Ahmed, an Indian citizen visiting Karachi with five family members after
the death of his sister, said his family had had to alter its travel plans
because of the last-minute rush for seats on the final flights.
-
- "I was here to mourn the death of my sister...but
am now rushing back home," he said.
-
- Both India and Pakistan have sent reinforcements to their
border, which stretches 3,000-km (1,800-mile). There has been a series
of small-scale, cross-border clashes between rival forces, most recently
overnight over a ceasefire line in Kashmir.
-
- Ahmed said two member of his family had to take a flight
from Lahore, capital of Pakistan's Punjab province, while others were going
home on the Bombay-bound flight.
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- "Now my family is facing another problem. We all
not all going on the same flight. I just wish my family reaches home safely,"
a weeping Ahmed said.
-
- "War would be terrible for us, I only wish both
the countries realise this," Ahmed added.
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