ATTARI, PUNJAB, INDIA, September 19, 2001: The only land route between India and Pakistan, the Attari-Wagah border check-point, has become a place of frenzied activity. The train and the bus plying between Delhi and Lahore, about 20 kilometers away from here, are the only means of surface transport between the two countries and pass through Attar-Wagah check-point. With sensitive developments unfolding across the border in the wake of terrorist strikes in the US, the minority communities, particularly the Hindus in Pakistan are increasingly becoming panicky. Five Hindu families arrived here last evening and said they did not intend to go back. One of them, Dula Ram said they had been intimidated into leaving Pakistan as the message was clear from the Taliban supporters in Pakistan — “Either adopt Islam or leave the country.” Hindus who had gone to Pakistan to visit relatives are returning in droves; the buses into Pakistan are nearly empty, those returning are packed.
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