LAHORE, Jan 1: The Delhi Transport Corporation will ply two buses on Jan 8 and 15 to carry stranded Pakistanis to the Wagah border.

“As many as 49 Pakistanis are still stranded in India,” the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) managing director told a news conference here on Tuesday.

“The Delhi Transport Corporation has informed us that it will run two buses on Jan 8 and 15,” Masood Ali Khan said, adding the PTDC had made arrangements to receive the passengers at Wagah and bring them to Lahore.

To a question, he said no Indian national had been left stranded in Pakistan.

The PTDC MD said the unilateral suspension of the Lahore-Delhi bus service by India was a violation of the bilateral agreement between the two countries.

“Under the agreement, either party is bound to give a three-month notice for cutting the road link.” The agreement had come into force on Feb 17, 1999, for five years and extendible on mutual consent.

Mr Khan said the violation could be challenged at the International Court of Justice but the PTDC would rather wait and see.

He said the PTDC’s annual earning from the Lahore-Delhi bus service stood at Rs4 million.

About the usage of the buses in the current situation, he said the PTDC would put its four buses, including the two spared from the Lahore-Delhi operation, on domestic routes to promote tourism, with Lahore-Rawalpindi and Lahore-Bahawalpur the likely routes. Mr Khan reported a sharp decline in tourism after Sept 11. To attract tourists, he said, the PTDC was launching ‘The Year of Mountains 2000’ at a three-day function at Islamabad on Jan 14.

Responding to a question, he said the PTDC had launched a 1,100-page website but it was facing problems due to the capacity of the local server. He said the PTDC had now applied for an international server to get quick results at the website.