The Hindu : Delhi-Lahore bus service resumes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 12, 2003

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Delhi-Lahore bus service resumes

The bus bound for Lahore from New Delhi at the Wagah border check post on Friday. — Reuters

LAHORE JULY 11. The Lahore-bound Indian bus crossed over into Pakistan at the Wagah border this afternoon, signalling the reopening of the direct passenger transportation links between the two neighbours.

The resumption of the suspended Delhi-Lahore bus service was widely cheered by people on both sides of the border. As the bus crossed into Pakistan, a large crowd raised cheers. Similar scenes were later witnessed at the Faletti's Hotel here where the service culminated and people called it the "dosti (friendship) bus service". The security personnel all along the 536-km route waved at the golden brown Sada-e-Sarhad (Call of the Border) bus as it passed by.

Earlier in the day, the bus was flagged off by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, B.C. Khanduri, amid tight security from the Ambedkar Stadium Terminal in Delhi.

With 13 passengers and 19 mediapersons on board, the bus started at 6.05 a.m. About half-a-dozen escort and pilot vehicles of the Delhi police — their sirens blaring — accompanied the bus up to the Singhu border from where the Haryana police took over.

Afterwards, the air-conditioned bus, which for the first time had been fitted with a mobile phone and a DVD player, then cruised towards Punjab, where the passengers and crew were welcomed by a bhangra troupe at a restaurant at Sirhind, 87 km from Pipli.

Following a short break for snacks, it headed forth, almost keeping with its time schedule. It next halted after three hours and 144 km at a restaurant in Kartarpur for the lunch break and reached the Wagah border at 4 p.m. It took another two hours for Customs and Immigration clearance. Following a security check by the bomb squad and dog squad of the Border Security Force, the bus entered Pakistan to a tumultuous welcome from the people.

At Wagah, there were emotional scenes as some of the passengers were reunited with their relatives.

The joy of the Lahore-based journalist Nadeem Ahmed knew no bounds as he lifted his four-month old son, Abdullah — whom he was seeing for the first time — in his arms.

The child was born in Jaipur while Mr. Nadeem's wife, Zahoor Saba, was visiting her parents along with her other son, Aun.

If this re-union was emotional, so was Zahoor's bidding adieu to her parents and brother in Delhi.

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