LAHORE, Dec 11: A bus from the Indian city of Amritsar crossed Wagah on Sunday on a trial run between Amritsar and Lahore. It is the third such service launched between the two South Asian neighbours as part of their peace process. The earlier two are Lahore-Delhi and Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus services commenced in July 2,003 and April 2,005, respectively.

Earlier, Oct 16 was fixed for the trial run but it did not materialize owing to the Oct 8 earthquake.

Pakistan will stage a similar trial on Tuesday.

The bus service is scheduled to begin regularly operating from Lahore on Dec 23 and from Amritsar on Dec 27, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation officials say.

The Indian bus is scheduled to reach Pakistan every Tuesday and depart on Wednesday. The Pakistani bus will go to Amritsar every Friday and will come back on Saturday, they say, adding the frequency may be increased later.

Seven Indian officials and two bus drivers were riding the Sunday trial run.

PTDC Managing Director Hashim Khan accorded a warm welcome to the Indian team, led by Indian Punjab Transport Secretary A. R. Talwar, at the Wagah border.

Talking to journalists after crossing over to Pakistan, Mr Talwar said final dates about a regular service between Amritsar and Lahore would be decided at a technical level meeting to be held in Islamabad on Dec 20-21.

Mr Talwar said that decision on the Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus service was yet to be made.

“Efforts are underway to liberalize visa policy and issuance of travel documents in Amritsar and Lahore,” he added.

Mr Khan said on-arrival visa policy should be introduced among the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.