After Samjhauta, Pakistan suspends Thar Express

Islamabad : Pakistan on Friday announced that it will suspend the Thar Express train service with India which links the two countries across the Rajasthan border, a day after it stopped the Samjhauta Express following its decision to downgrade bilateral ties.

Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Friday announced to suspend the services of Thar Express and said that the last train would leave for India late Friday night, the official APP news agency reported.

"As long as I am the Railways Minister, the services of Thar and Samjhauta Express would remain suspended," he was quoted as saying.

Pakistan has decided to ban all cultural exchanges with India, including all kinds of joint ventures between the entertainment industry of the two countries after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, a media report said .

With Pakistan upping the ante over Centre's move to abrogate Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Army on Friday warned that anybody trying to disrupt peace in Kashmir would be eliminated.

The warning from the Indian Army came in the backdrop of Pakistani political leadership and its armed forces making statements threatening India over its Kashmir move.

In an interview, Chinar Corps Commander Lieutenant General KJS Dhillon said that "Pakistan and its Army has always been involved in disrupting peace in the Valley and I believe that they would continuously do it."