ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

Pakistani bus completes dry run to India

A 24-seater luxury coach belonging to the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation arrived at the border checkpost in Wagha border from Lahore this morning en route for Delhi, for the final dry run before the proposed bus linkage between the two major cities is finalised.

The Mitsubishi coach was carrying a delegation of 20 Pakistani officials belonging to various departments who would hold consultations with their Indian counterparts at New Delhi to finalise the details of the Delhi-Lahore bus service.

The delegation, led by Dr Tazul Islam Yousfzai, general manager of the National Highway Authority of Pakistan under the ministry of communications will return to Lahore through the same route on January 17.

Armed Punjab police personnel will escort the coach till the Shambu barrier and thereafter Haryana police personnel will take over the security of the bus in their state till the national capital.

The bus from Lahore entered the Indian side of the check post at 0925 hours and after clearance from the Indian immigration and customs authorities, left for New Delhi at 0950 hours.

Two officials of the Delhi Transport Corporation were accompanying the Pakistani delegation members on board the coach.

The district administration representatives led by deputy commissioner Narinderjit Singh along with senior customs, immigration and Border Security Force officials received the delegation after they alighted from the bus at the BSF check post. The Pakistani officials were very happy with the reception accorded to them here.

The coach, which was initially to have arrived here at 0700 hours was delayed due to dense fog which had reduced visibility.

During the course of the 'dry run', the coach would halt at Punjab tourism highway complexes at Kartarpur and Sirhind, and then at Pipli in Haryana. The Pakistani officials would be inspecting three facilities which were the proposed stoppages identified for the Lahore-Delhi bus service.

Talking to newspersons on his arrival, Dr Tajul Islam Yousefzai, the delegation leader sounded a positive note when he stated that the bus linkage between the two countries would be established in the first week of February. ''There should be no problem as we have already finalised all the details with our Indian counterparts'', he said.

Dismissing the security aspect or threat perceptions by those who were opposed to the linkage, Dr Yousfzai said that such disruptive elements exist everywhere in the world and there was no need to bother about them.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief had clearly stated that the linkage would be established at all costs, he added.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report