New Delhi, December 1
Indo-Pakistan relations today showed tangible signs of coming out of a time warp when the two decided to resume bilateral civil aviation links from January 1. This has paved the way for the resumption of Samjhauta Express and the visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Islamabad for the SAARC summit.

Diplomatic sources told The Tribune this evening that India was likely to announce a fresh set of confidence-building measures soon after the success of the four-hour-long technical-level talks between civil aviation officials of the two countries.

The sources said the India was likely to announce the resumption of Samjhauta Express “within a couple of weeks.”

India is also going to announce further increase in the strength of the two countries’ missions from the existing 55 as the demand for visas has registered a massive increase, particularly from Pakistan to India. Pakistan is also keen on the same.

Today’s Indo-Pak technical-level talks proceeded so smoothly that they concluded in just four hours although they were orignially scheduled to last two days.

There will be no formal or informal talks tomorrow. The Indo-Pak bonhomie could be gauged by the fact that the Pakistani delegation left for Agra immediately after the talks.

The task had been rendered easy after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf yesterday announced his decision to lift the ban on Indian flights over its airspace and to restore airlinks.

A brief joint statement issued after the meeting said, “The two sides agreed to resume simultaneous airlinks and overflights with effect from January 1, 2004, on a reciprocal basis.”

The statement said the decision “also completes the operationalisation of the proposal made by Prime Minister Vajpayee in May for the resumption of civil aviation links” and added that “at the request of the Pakistan Government the Indian Government agreed to the removal of restrictions on the type of aircraft to be used by designated carriers of the two countries.”

The statement said the two sides agreed to hold further talks to update the existing bilateral air services’ agreement on a mutually convenient date. India had unilaterally snapped its air links with Pakistan in retaliation to the December 13, 2001, terrorist attack on the Parliament House. Pakistan had reciprocated the Indian decision.

Diplomatic sources dismissed Pakistani assertions that India was more keen than Pakistan on the restoration of airlinks and overflights because of “heavy losses” being suffered by Indian Airlines and Air India planes due to longer, routes.

The Indian delegation was led by Director-General of Civil Aviation Satinder Singh and officials from External Affairs and Civil Aviation Ministries, besides officers of Air India and Indian Airlines.