WAGAH, Dec 16: India’s cabinet has authorised the signing of an agreement with Pakistan to launch a fourth bus service between the two nuclear-armed rivals, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Friday.

The agreement will expand economic cooperation and people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P. R. Dasmunsi told reporters after a cabinet meeting late Thursday, according to PTI.

The bus links are part of a slow-moving peace process between the two South Asian neighbours.

The new bus route would link the Indian city of Amritsar in the state of Punjab with the Pakistani city of Nankana Sahib — the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev, who founded the Sikh religion. Most of the residents of Indian Punjab are Sikhs.

The agreement will also officially launch a bus service connecting Amritsar with Lahore, scheduled to start operating in the last week of December.

—AFP