KARACHI: PIA is introducing a daily Night Coach service with a 30 per cent fare reduction between Karachi and Lahore from September 7. Operated by the Viscount, these services will be all-tourist with a high-density configuration of 64 seats.

One-way fare between Karachi and Lahore will be Rs110 and the round-trip fare Rs198 as against the normal fares of Rs160 and Rs288 respectively. No meals or refreshments will be served on board and free baggage allowance on these services has been fixed at 30lbs per passenger.

The special reduced fares for these services will not be combinable with normal fares and the tickets for the Night Coach service will not consequently be valid for travel by other regular services.

A PIA spokesman stated that the main idea behind introducing the service is to extend the benefits of increased utilisation of available capacity to the travelling public and to relieve the congestion of traffic on day services. These services, he said, were introduced on a purely experimental basis until Oct 15.

The service will leave Karachi at 9pm and arrive in Lahore at 11.40pm. The return service will leave Lahore at 1am and arrive in Karachi at 2.35am.

Aid under threat

WASHINGTON: Administration officials said yesterday that the promised aid for India, Pakistan and Brazil could be jeopardised by cuts in President John F. Kennedy’s foreign aid spending recommended by the House Appropriations Committee.

This was revealed when the administration, joined by former president Dwight D. Eisenhower, told Congress the recommended 900,000,000 dollars cut would endanger the free world’s security in the face of a mounting Sino-Soviet threat.

Under development loan cuts proposed by the committee, there would not be enough money to meet promises to India, Pakistan and Brazil and still carry out the proposed Alliance For Progress programme in Latin America. — Agencies

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...