After trains and buses, it is trucks that are crossing the Indo-Pak border. And this movement of trucks across the border can be viewed as a positive sign of the ongoing peace process between the two countries.

Two trucks decked with fresh flowers and laden with tomatoes crossed the border and entered Pakistan on Monday. The trucks, which were flagged off by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, marked a new beginning in trade ties with Pakistan. Badal termed the event “historic” and sought appropriate measures from the Centre for free movement of tourists across the border.

Hoping that more visa offices would be set up in Lahore and Amritsar, the Chief Minister said there was great potential for trade with Pakistan in the near future. With the border now having opened for goods vehicles on Monday, over 200 trucks are expected to cross the border from either side every month.

Ishwinder Singh, who became the first truck driver to go to Pakistan after 1947, was elated. “It feels great. I’m delighted,” he said.

MP and SAD acting chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, MP Navjot Singh Siddhu, Cabinet ministers Bikram Singh Majithia, Manoranjan Kalia and Gulzar Singh Ranike and several Akali workers came to see off the trucks. Speaking to mediapersons, Badal said that he had also urged the Centre to extend the freight corridor from Delhi to Ludhiana upto Attari, besides setting up an uninterrupted super-express highway from Delhi to Amritsar. Badal also asked the Centre to open up the Hussaniwala and Khemkaran borders to boost overall development and progress of the state.

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