India hopes 'aberrations' in Dosti bus service will be sorted

As buses under the Pakistan-India Dosti service from Lahore to Delhi were being restricted to the Wagah border in the light of terror threats, India Wednesday expressed hope that any "temporary aberrations" in the service would be sorted out.

Passengers leaving for India (New Delhi) and those returning from there are being dropped at the Wagah border.

Those travelling to India have also been asked to board the bus from the Wagah border, which lies between the Indian city of Amritsar and Pakistan's Lahore city.

"This is an initiative which our former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Shariff started. We hope that the bus would ply in accordance with their vision, and if there are temporary aberrations, we hope these will be sorted," India's external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters on the sidelines of the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Gandhinagar.

"This has happened since Dec 31. If there are security concerns that Pakistan is expressing on its side, then it is for Pakistan to decide what is in their best interest, in terms of security," he said.

The new system was introduced after the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) shifted the entire bus operation to its sub-office at the border.

"The entire bus operation is being done at the border," said security official Akram deputed by the PTDC in Gulberg area of Lahore.

Earlier, passengers used to be dropped in Gulberg area and the city office in Nankana Sahib district headquarters, about 90 km from Lahore, in Pakistan.

The bus service between the two countries was officially started March 16, 1999.