Pakistan, India agree on new bus links

The agreement was made in days of talks between technical teams in Lahore, a joint statement issued by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.

Transport links have been one of the most visible signs of slowly improving relations between neighbours which have fought three wars since 1947 and nearly went to war a fourth time in 2002.

In April, they launched a bus link between their parts of the disputed region of Kashmir, which is at the heart of their decades old hostility.

On Wednesday, they finalised an earlier agreement to launch a service linking the Lahore and Amritsar, with a Pakistani bus to make the first run from Lahore to Amritsar on Jan. 20.

The Pakistani bus will travel to Amritsar every Friday and return on Saturday.

The first bus from Amritsar to Lahore will run on Jan. 24. The Indian bus will make the journey to Lahore on Tuesdays and return on Wednesdays, the statement said.

The two sides also agreed to start a bus service between Amritsar and the eastern Pakistani town of Nankana Sahib, a place of pilgrimage for Sikhs, many of whom live in northwestern India.

Trial runs of that service will be held on Jan. 27, with an Indian bus running from Amritsar to Nankana Sahib, and on Jan. 29, when a Pakistani bus will go the other way.

"Regular operation of the bus service would commence within a month from the trial run," the statement said.

The two countries are holding talks on a range of issues, including border disputes and Muslim-majority Kashmir.