3rd Pak, India bus runs on trial
From Meerza Iqbal Baig

AMRITSAR (India)—A bus service from the Indian city of Amritsar to the Pakistani city of Lahore began a trial run Sunday, the third such service launched between the two nations as part of their peace process. The bus, carrying seven local officials and two drivers, departed from Amritsar at 9:00 am and crossed the border at Wagah in the northern state of Punjab at 10:40 am, an Indian Customs and Immigration officer said.
On Tuesday the Pakistani side will stage a similar trial. The bus service is scheduled to begin operating from Pakistan on December 23 and from Amritsar on December 27, according to Lakhwinder Singh Dhaorwali, the manager of the Indian Punjab bus authority.
“The Indian bus is scheduled to go to Pakistan every Tuesday and come back on Wednesday. The Pakistani bus will arrive here on Friday and depart on Saturday, thus providing two connections every week,” said Dhaorwali.
APP adds: With the trial run of the Amritsar-Lahore bus service held on Sunday, the first bus crossed over to Pakistan through Wagah border Sunday morning. The bus started from the “Youth Hostel” in Amristar, which has been made the international terminal for the bus service, at 9.00 a.m. The bus, which carried nine passengers, crossed the Radcliffe at 10.40 a.m, said media reports pouring in here.
The bus would return to Amritsar tomorrow. “The nine passengers who crossed over to Pakistan in the bus are Deputy Commissioner Amritsar K D S Bhullar, Secretary Transport Punjab Government A K Talwar, Director Punjab Transport Department Narinderjit Singh, State Transport Commissioner Iqbal Singh Sidhu, two drivers, two Liaison officers and one official of the Punjab Roadways,” immigration officials at Wagah/Attari border were quoted as saying. “Earlier October 16 was fixed for the trial run of the Amritsar-Lahore bus but it did not materialise due to the terrible earthquake in Pakistan”, said General Manager Punjab Roadways Lakhwinder Singh Dhaorwali.
The much awaited bus service is finally scheduled to start from December 23 with the first bus coming in from Lahore on that day while the first bus from Amritsar will depart on December 27, added the reports quoting sources at district administration of Amritsar. The Indian Punjab Government will request Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to flag off the bus from Amritsar, said the reports.
Lakhwinder Singh said “The schedule of operation of the bus service would remain the same when it starts after this postponement. The bus service would run between the Youth Hostel International Bus Terminal at Amritsar and Gulberg in Lahore”.