Once a week, Pakistan International Airlines flies from the port city of Karachi to Mumbai, on the west coast of India -- less than the distance from Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, to Lahore, its second biggest. It is hard to believe that the flight lasts little more than an hour; Mumbai feels 30 years ahead of Karachi, with its glitzy skyscrapers and striking Sea Link road bridge sweeping along the shore of the Arabian Sea.
Links between the two countries are so poor that very few Indians are even aware of the PIA service. Government-controlled Air India does not fly to Pakistan, and there are no reciprocal arrangements between the neighboring flag carriers, reflecting a tense political relationship and extremely limited economic and communications links.
